Càgliari Hosts Third Men's FIVB Challenger

For the second-straight season, Càgliari will host a men’s FIVB Challenger.  Despite losing the 2005 gold medal match to Germany’s Kay Matysik and Markus Popp, Italy’s Eugenio Amore and Riccardo Fenili began their success on the FIVB Challenger/Satellite circuit with their first of five medal finishes.  Amore and Fenili won three 2005 FIVB Challenger/Satellite gold medals along a third-place finish.  The Italian island also hosted three women’s international Beach Volleyball events, including SWATCH-FIVB World Tour stops in 2001 aqnd 2002, and a challenger in 2004.  Càgliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy.  Cagliari, with more than 170,000 inhabitants, is called Casteddu (literally, the castle) in the Sardinian language.  From the 1870s, with the unification of Italy, the city experienced a century of rapid growth.  Many outstanding buildings were erected by the end of the 18th century during the office of Mayor Ottone Bacaredda.  Cagliari has one of the longest beaches in an Italian town. The Poetto beach stretches for 13 km and is famous for its white fine-grained sand.  Cagliari is an ideal location for sailing, hiking and outdoor sports.  It has a mild climate, often refreshed by northern-west winds.  Cagliari has some peculiar gastronomic traditions.  Many dishes are based on the wide variety of fish and sea food available.  Although it is possible to trace influences from Spanish gastronomy, Cagliaritanian food has a distinctive and unique character.  Excellent wines are also produced in the nearby vineyards of the Campidano plain.

Year - Cagliari men's gold medal, Cagliari silver medal, Cagliari bronze medal

1999 - Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran, Brazil / Taichi Morikawa/Ko Ozaki, Japan / Markus Egger/Bernhard Vesti, Switzerland

2005 - Kay Matysik/Markus Popp, Germany / Eugenio Amore/Riccardo Fenili, Italy / Ian Borges/Pedro Solberg Salgado, Brazil

 

Italy and San Marino ranks behind Brazil (49 events) and France (35) in hosting FIVB events (34) with 18 SWATCH stops (11 men and seven women) and 16 Satellite stops (nine men and seven women). 

PAST ITALY MEN’S CHALLENGER/SATELLITE PODIUM PLACEMENTS

Medals - Italy 12, Brazil 8, Argentina 1, Australia 1, Czech Republic 1, France 1, Germany 1, Japan 1, Switzerland 1