Braazilian volleyball blogger Bruno Voloch has reported that Fabiana Claudino has accepted an invitation from coach José Roberto Guimarães to practice with Brazil’s female national team ahead of the WCH. Although this is technically not a return to the team, fans cannot but hope that the middle-blocker who captained Brazil to two Olympic gold medals is rethinking her retirement from the national team after Brazil’s 2016 Olympic fiasco at home.
The 33-year-old 6’4″ Fabiana is one of the best players ever. Besides her two Olympic titles, she has 7 Grand Prix, 2 Grand Champions Cup, 1 Champions League, and 5 Superliga gold medals to her name. If she indeed comes back to Brazil’s national team and join Thaisa Daher at the middle, Brazil will once again have the best tandem the sport has ever seen at the position. Although Fabiana may not be as athletic as before, she did help Praia Clube win its first ever Superliga title this past season. Regardless, her locker-room presence alone It may just be what the team needs to build itself up from a mediocre VNL campaign that saw it finish the competition outside of the podium.
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