No
rest for the wicked! Those envious pairings who weren’t
quite good enough to qualify for the Summer Olympiad in
Athens will be snarling in anticipation of the Italian
Open in Milan which runs from September 1 – 5.
An
early warning to Olympic medal winners who dare to gloat
on their return to the Swatch – FIVB World Tour for
there will be nothing but thoughts of revenge and
humiliation in the minds of the opponents that they left
behind.
The Arco della Pace (Arc of Peace) - Parco Sempione is
an inspirational setting for the elite women's teams as
they compete in the penultimate tournament of the
season.
A large inland town will be the theatre where the elite
of women's Beach Volleyball perform. Places like Berlin
in Germany, Klagenfurt in Austria and Switzerland's
Gstaad have proven how a non seaside city can make Beach
Volleyball work and Milan has been working hard to
follow suit.
There
were surprises all ‘round last season when the Chinese
duo of Jia Tian and Fei Wang claimed their second
tournament success in a row here. Just prior to this
event, the highly skilled pair had been victorious in
Bali and thus, when they added the Italian crown shortly
afterwards the world of women’s Beach Volleyball
recognized that there was a new team in town worthy of
much respect.
"We are ecstatic with this victory," Fei Wang said
following her team’s final win over seeded Brazilian
teammates Adriana Behar and Shelda. "We know the
Brazilians are the best in Beach Volleyball so it makes
us extremely proud to win this tournament. We are young
and we are improving so we can still achieve a lot”.
After last year’s great success, Milan will be all
primed to put on another spectacular show with the
locals coming out in force to witness all the top
women’s stars.
