ITA W: Egonu takes break from national team – “I’m crying because of pain I felt from insults and messages I received“

One of the best female players in the world, Paola Egonu, shockingly stated after the bronze medal match at the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship that she decided to stop playing for the Italy National Team.

Egonu literally burst into tears at the end of the bronze medal match at the Women’s World Championship 2022, won by Italy 3-0 over the USA. The opposite talked with her agent on the sidelines of the awarding ceremony and was filmed. The video immediately went viral and the words of the best scorer of the event were quite shocking: “Don’t you understand, it got tiring. They asked me if I was Italian. This is my last match (on the national team). I’m tired.“

Egonu has received a lot of criticism over the past three weeks, as many thought her performance during the World Champions hasn’t been up to par with her actual talent. But, questioning her devotion to the national team because of her Nigerian origin, which obviously has a premise of racism, is too much.

”A hot head is what I have. It was really hard after the match with Brazil (semi-finals) to take the field again. Right now, I feel like a 23-year-old girl taking a break and wanting to rest. I’ll always want to wear this (Italian) jersey, but today (Sunday) it was hard. I sang the anthem crying because of the pain I felt from the insults and messages I received. It hurts inside. I have to make assessments with a cool head. I’m not saying it’s over because saying it’s over would mean agreeing with them. This shirt is an honor for me,” Egonu stated for RaiNews.

When asked who questioned her Italian belongings, she replied in this way: “The comments. They are read, they reach the players. It hurts. If I wear this jersey, it’s because I believe in it and I feel Italian. Otherwise, I wouldn’t make sacrifices to bring Italy to the top.“

Egonu concluded by leaving, as it seems, a 50-50 probability of returning to compete for the ’Azzurre’: ”I hope that in a few months this decision will change and that I won’t be able to wait to wear the jersey again.“