2008 🇮🇹 Italy vs Cuba 🇨🇺 🏐 Women Volleyball 🏐 FIVB World Grand Prix

The 2008 Olympic year coincided with the World Grand Prix, held about a month before the Olympics. Many teams used this tournament as a final warm-up but the standard wasn’t at its peak. The Olympics were the teams’ ultimate goal so they might have been playing it safe and hiding their true strength. Post-Match Commentary : Italy emerged victorious as the 2007 World Cup champions. Taismary Agüero, a former Cuban national player, gained Italian citizenship and represented Italy from 2007 onwards. Standing at 1.77m and 30 years old, she played as a setter and outside hitter during her time in Cuba. She was widely regarded as one of the best players in the Cuban squad. Two key players from the 2007 World Cup, #15 Antonella Del Core (28, 1.8m) and #17 Simona Gioli (31, 1.85m), only appeared in the first week. #12 Francesca Piccinini (29, 1.8m) and #7 Martina Guiggi (24, 1.83m) were also lineup players. #14 Eleonora Lo Bianco (29, 1.72m) served as the captain and leader of the team. In 2008, Cuba welcomed back its experienced 90s coach. #1 Yumilka Ruiz (30, 1.79m) and #18 Zoila Barros (32, 1.88m) were the most experienced players. #2 Yanelis Santos (22, 1.83m) and #6 Daimí Ramírez (25, 1.76m) were the setters & opposite hitters. #12 Rosir Calderón (24, 1.91m) played opposite with Ruiz. #9 Rachel Sánchez (19, 1.88m) replaced Barros as the starting lineup since the 2007 World Cup. It’s interesting to see Ruiz and Agüero, former teammates, play against each other. Italy’s #17 scored 19 points with a 78% success rate (18/23).