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Türkiye Are Going to Los Angeles 🌍
They beat Italy 3-2 in the EuroVolley final in Istanbul, in front of 17,299 people, and the European title carries a place at the 2028 Games. Melissa Vargas was the most valuable player.
Türkiye lost the first set 25-16 and the third 25-12 and are going to the Los Angeles Olympics anyway.
They beat Italy 3-2 (16-25, 25-22, 12-25, 25-21, 15-10) in Istanbul on Sunday night, and Serbia had beaten Poland 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 15-25, 25-18) for the bronze earlier in the evening.
17,299 people were in the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall, which the CEV calls a record crowd for the championship. The CEV also calls them back-to-back European champions, the previous title having come in Brussels three years ago, and this is a fourth Olympic qualification after London, Tokyo and Paris.
Vargas Took the Award and the Argument
Melissa Vargas scored 28 points for Türkiye and Paola Egonu scored 28 for Italy, on the counts published by the CEV, the FIVB and Volleyball World. The Italian federation's own box score gives Vargas 29.
Both are official and we are not resolving them. It matters here because three of those four accounts build the match on the two of them finishing level.
Vargas was named the most valuable player. Ekaterina Antropova scored 16 for Italy, Myriam Sylla 13 and Anna Danesi 10, and Türkiye put four players into the all-star team to Italy's two.
Erdem Has Been Here Ten Times
Eda Erdem is Türkiye's captain and this was her tenth EuroVolley. Speaking to the CEV, which publishes in English.
“I am incredibly proud of this team and of the way we have stuck together. I think the whole of Türkiye should be proud of this group and of what we have achieved. We knew Italy was an incredibly strong team and we had many ups and downs throughout the match but we left the negative moments behind us and focussed on staying positive. To crown ourselves European champions before this crowd is a feeling that is hard to describe. I really have no words.”
Italy Disagreed About What the Silver Was Worth
Sarah Fahr plays middle for Italy, and this is what she told the CEV.
“It is obviously very disappointing to lose, especially with the sort of performance we delivered for some sections of the match. The tiebreak is somehow brutal – sometimes it rewards your efforts, sometimes it takes something you feel you deserve away from you.”
Two of her team-mates went further and disagreed with each other about it.
Ekaterina Antropova told the Italian federation that silver shines like silver, because in sport you either win or you lose. Both of them spoke in Italian and both renderings here are ours.
Myriam Sylla told the same federation that it shines like gold, because it is the product of a great deal of work, which is the opposite of what her own opposite hitter had just said.
The Continental Places Are Filling Up Fast
Türkiye are the third continental champion this summer to convert an indoor title straight into a Games place. Thailand took Asia's indoor women's place at Tianjin last month, and Egypt took Africa's indoor men's place at Nairobi on Friday.
Asia's men are still playing for theirs in Japan and Europe's men start on Wednesday. The beach places run on a separate count, and four more of those went on Sunday.
Türkiye Will Be a Problem in Los Angeles
A team that can be beaten 25-16 and 25-12 inside a single match, in two of the five sets, and still close it out 15-10, arrives at a Games as a problem rather than a participant.
