Just a week after the first FIVB World Tour tournament of 2018 in The Hague, Italy has officially confirmed their beach players and coaches for the upcoming season.
Italian beach players have regularly seen success and long-standing power in World Tour events. Italy had a number of their top squads competing in the four-star event that opened up the year, while a number of them took the tournament off to focus on events that start later in the year.
The women’s field will see Marta Menegatti/Laura Giombini continuing their partnership following the 2017 season and their 2016 Rio Olympic run coached by Terenzio Feroleto. Nicolangelo Antonicelli and Davide Chiappini will take on six players of their own for the upcoming season – Ariana Barboni, Claudia Puccinelli, Alice Gradini, Gaia Traballi, Agata Zuccarelli and Silvia Costantini.
On the men’s side, Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo will keep their partnership alive for 2018 after having a successful 2017 along with a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. They will continue their play under the guidance of Matteo Varnier, Ettore Marcovecchio and Caterina de Marinis. Among other strong men’s crews, Alex Ranghieri and Marco Carminati will join forces with Enrico Rossi, Marco Pallottelli and Sean Fallowfield for the upcoming season.
Other Italian men that will complete the roster are Paolo Cappio, Alberto Di Silvestre, Tobia Marchetto, Jakob Windisch, Marika Costabile, Erika Ditta, Reka Orsi Toth, Anna Piccoli, Claudia Scampoli, Chiara They and Dalila Varassi who will all work with Ettore Marcovecchio, Caterina de Marinis and Daniele Benotto.
Also to be included in the coaching staff are Alberto Di Mario, Leondino Giombini, Gioele Rosellini and physiotherapists Gabriele Cavalieri, Manuela Vellecco, Mario Raso and Fabio Martelli.
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