Italy scores second win in women's volleyball with return of Aguero
11/8/2008 17:32
With the return of its point-scoring machine Taismary Aguero, world No. 2
Italy head to the first-ever Olympic gold confidently after a comfortable 3-0
win over Kazakhstan in women's volleyball today.
Aguero, whose mother just
past away for illness, appeared at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium
after missing the team's first match against Russia on Saturday. The former Cuba
veteran was said to travel to her birthday place to see her mother.
Aguero
showed at the court in the second set and contributed 10 points for Italy.
Escorted by a team official, she passed through the mixed zone quickly, ignoring
microphones and cameras.
Italy's head coach Massimo Barbolini sang high
praise for Aguero and her performances at the post-match press
conference.
"Aguero is an excellent player and she is also very strong. She
is now in the great pain of losing her mother and she is also striving to
recover from the sadness," said Barolini.
According to the coach, Aguero was
back to team yesterday and participated the training for today's match.
"I
want to stress that she has been going through a hard time, both mentally and
physically. During the past three days, she had spent more time in the plane
than on the ground. But I believe she can recover gradually," he
said.
Aguero's return also cheered up her teammates, who upset the mighty
Russian with solid defense and coherent attacks.
"Aguero now is back, which
make us even more confident in the rest matches. She has always been an
important player of the team and we will also give her support to help get over
the hard time," said Italy's captain Eleonora Lo BianCo
The Italians showed
their determination to win from the first minute. The tall, lean Kazakhstans
posed a threat to their rivals at net, but their attacks could hardly be
effective in front of the rivals' tenacious defense system. In addition, their
weak defense was exposed to the quick attacks from Italy's wing spikers Fracesca
Piccinini and Serena Ortolani.
Italt take the match 25-19, 25-15 and 25-21 in
66 minutes. Piccinini and Yelena Pavlova from Kazakhstan are top scorers with 12
points apiece.
Earlier in the day, the 2006 World Championship bronze
medalist Serbia also harvest second victory by breezing past Olympic newcomer
Algeria in straight sets, laying a solid foundation to enter the quarterfinals,
while the north Africans suffered another blow after the 3-0 loss to Brazil on
the opening day.
Twelve teams are competing in two groups in the preliminary
round with top four finishers from each group to qualify for the
quarter-finals.
Italy is grouped with Algeria, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia and
Serbia in Pool B while defending champion China is with Cuba, Japan, Poland,
United States and Venezuela in Pool A. The knockout stage runs from Aug. 19 to
23.
Xinhua
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