Lausanne, Switzerland, July 31, 2018 – Ivan Zaytsev is part of the squad that Italy coach Gianlorenzo Blengini has named to begin preparations for their hosting of the Italy-Bulgaria 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
Zaytsev missed the 2017 international season having excelled when Italy won silver at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, but he returned to captain the Azzurri in the inaugural Volleyball Nations League in May 2018.
The 29-year-old is part of a 22-man squad that will be seeking their first international medal since their second-place finish at Rio 2016.
“We have added players to our Volleyball Nations League squad who played well and helped us win the Mediterranean Games,” Blengini said. “We know what our players can do and as we explained at the start of the season our main focus is the World Championship so all our efforts are towards continuing to progress and improve so that we are ready on September 9.”
Italy will mark the opening of the World Championship on September 9 in Rome. They will be aiming to still be in contention on the final day of the tournament when the medal matches are played in Turin’s Pala Alpitour on Sunday, September 30.
Before the World Championship begins Italy will take on the Netherlands in Cavalese on August 3 and 4, and China in Padua on September 2 and in Siena on September 6.
Italy Squad
Setters - Simone Giannelli, Michele Baranowicz, Riccardo Sbertoli
Liberos - Massimo Colaci, Salvatore Rossini, Fabio Balaso
Middle Blockers - Simone Anzani, Daniele Mazzone, Enrico Cester, Davide Candellaro, Roberto Russo, Alberto Polo
Wing Spikers - Osmany Juantorena, Simone Parodi, Luigi Randazzo, Gabriele Maruotti, Oleg Antonov, Filippo Lanza, Giacomo Raffaelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Gabriele Nelli, Giulio Sabbi