Reigning world champion Italy and back-to-back Olympic gold medalist France method the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship with warning, acknowledging that the worldwide stage presents a novel form of problem in comparison with their earlier triumphs.
Italy, the 2022 FIVB World Championship winners, mentioned that their victory got here three years in the past, stressing that a lot has modified since then, each inside their squad and throughout the worldwide volleyball panorama.
“No stress, as a result of we gained three years in the past so it’s [been] a very long time that we didn’t win [in the Worlds] and the European and the Olympics,” Italy’s outdoors spiker Alessandro Michieletto mentioned.
Italian setter Simone Giannelli echoed the sentiment, emphasizing that the crew carries a mindset of getting nothing to defend.
Again in 2022, Italy bannered the very same lineup with Michieletto, Daniele Lavia, and Yuri Romano carrying the struggle within the finals in opposition to world no. 1 Poland. This time, although, the Italians are lacking the providers of Lavia on account of damage.
Nonetheless, Italy prevailed over Algeria to open its contemporary marketing campaign with Michieletto and Mattia Bottolo, who stuffed in for Lavia, main the cost for the Italians.
“I feel that we don’t should defend something as a result of the title is now historical past. We have now to go and to attempt to search and discover one other title and one other historical past for Italy,” Gianelli mentioned.
“I feel we now have to be centered on the video games and never put an excessive amount of stress on us. I feel the necessary factor is to be on the court docket and concentrate on what we now have to do technically and mentally after which see what occurs.”
‘Not straightforward’ for Olympic volleyball champions France
France likewise sees the World Championship as a unique problem with head coach Andrea Giani stressing the significance of staying within the current, particularly in a subject stacked with powerhouse groups.
The reigning Olympic champions handed their first check in opposition to South Korea with a dominant 25-12, 25-18, 25-16 victory on Sunday.
“It’s not straightforward as a result of the groups we play are sturdy groups. There’s Italy, the world champion, Poland, the European champions, Italy, Belgium, and Japan. For me, this one shouldn’t be straightforward,” Giani, who was as soon as a star center blocker for France, mentioned.
“On the finish, we want to consider the current. We don’t take into consideration the finals, solely match by match.”
—JMB, GMA Built-in Information