Poland are the 2023 European champions in men’s volleyball. The team mastered a straight-set win over incumbents Italy in Saturday’s CEV EuroVolley 2023 final in Rome to claim the country's second continental crown in history and first since 2009. EuroVolley co-hosts Italy had to settle for silver this time, while Slovenia completed the podium with bronze.
Poland’s captain Bartosz Kurek lifts the EuroVolley 2023 trophy (Photo credits: cev.eu)
A fantastic crowd of over 10,000 spectators at Rome’s Palazzo dello Sport (pictured in the main photo; credits: cev.eu) cheered on as Poland and Italy engaged in the battle for the European throne, a remake of last year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship final in Poland. The Volleyball Nations League 2023 champions proved stronger and disappointed the world champions and the home fans with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-23) sweep of the final.
Sergio Mattarella, President of the Republic of Italy, and Giovanni Malagò, President of the Italian Olympic Committee, witnessed the great match in person at Palazzo dello Sport.
FIVB President Ary Graça and CEV President Aleksandar Boricic with EuroVolley MVP Wilfredo Leon during the awarding ceremony in Rome (Photo credits: cev.eu)
Poland’s Wilfredo Leon and Italy’s Daniele Lavia shared the top-scorer honours with 13 points each. The Cuban-born Polish outside hitter, who contributed three aces towards the victory, was also named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament. In the course of the competition, Leon also broke the serving speed world record, firing the ball at 138 km/h during the pool-stage match against Denmark.
How does he do it?! 😱 Wilfredo Leon set a new world record serve speed at 138 km/h! 🌟 This is only a few days after Nimir Abdel-Aziz set a world record by only one km/h less than Leon 🤩
📺 Catch all the action of #EuroVolleyM at https://t.co/35InljpTyP#EuropeanVolleyball pic.twitter.com/SBBuJ5o75y
- European Volleyball (@CEVolleyball) September 5, 2023
Poland went through the European Championship on a winning run of nine consecutive matches, losing only four sets along the way. They dropped only a set in the five games of the pool stage and then produced 3-1 victories in their eighthfinal against Belgium, their quarterfinal against Serbia and their semifinal against Slovenia to reach the gold medal game against Italy. It was the 11th EuroVolley podium for the central European country. In addition to the two titles, they have five silver and four bronze medals in their collection.
Italy settled for silver (Photo credits: cev.eu)
Seven-time champions Italy picked up their fifth silver to add to the three bronze medals in their EuroVolley showcase.
Slovenia made it to their fourth podium over the last five editions of the European Championships, after claiming the silver medals in 2015, 2019 and 2021. In Saturday’s bronze medal match, Romanian coach Gheorghe Cretu steered them to a 3-2 (25-22, 25-16, 21-25, 18-25, 15-11) victory over reigning Olympic champions France. Slovenia’s 21-year-old opposite Rok Mozic delivered the match high of 26 points and went on to become the best scorer of the entire EuroVolley 2023 with a total of 152 points to his name.
EuroVolley 2023 bronze medallists Slovenia (Photo credits: cev.eu)
The EuroVolley 2023 Final Four in Rome that started on Thursday with Poland’s 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-21) win over Slovenia and Italy’s 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-23) win over France in the semifinals crowned a 24-team three-week tournament that started on 28 August and was co-hosted by four countries - Bulgaria, Israel, Italy and North Macedonia.
The Netherlands, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Germany, Portugal, Croatia, Czechia, Türkiye, Belgium, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Spain, Israel, Montenegro, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Switzerland and Denmark, in that order, lined up in the places from fifth to 24th in the final standings.
Source : fivb.com
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