The President of the Italian Volleyball Federation (FIPAV), Giuseppe Manfredi, stated that he knows who insulted Paola Egonu, after which she announced a temporary retirement from the country’s national team.
Egonu’s announcement of temporarily ending her playing for the Italy Women’s National Team due to insults she received in comments on social media and certain digital media in the country, inflicted a blow to the Italian federation. After all, she’s the best they’ve got right now and without her on the international stage, the ‘Azzurre’ wouldn’t be nearly as competitive as they were with her.
“We’re all really sorry for what happened to Paola and the offenses received on social media by some stupid and ignorant person. After six intense months of activity, it’s normal for her to be tired and stressed, so at the end of the game she had this outburst,” Manfredi said regarding Egonu’s statements after the end of the match for the bronze medal at the 2022 FIVB World Championship between Italy and the United States.
He reminded all that the star opposite went through all youth categories of the Italy National Team as well as a club that promotes young players in the country, Club Italia, which was followed with giving prestige not only to volleyball but to the entire Italian sport by her, along with her teammates from the Italy Senior National Team.
Manfredi added: “I’m sure she’s very attached to the blue (Italian) jersey, she sewed it on us. We have several months to talk calmly and confront each other, leaving her time to recover. Finally, I want to underline that our discipline is based on equality and integration, values that have always been defended and promoted by the Italian Volleyball Federation,” the head of FIPAV expressed solidarity with Egonu.
