Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
Victory at the first European Games in Baku will help to win a license for participation in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Italian team's beach volleyball player Alex Ranghieri told Trend.
The group, in which the Italian team performed June 19, included the teams from Azerbaijan, Norway and Lithuania.
"The most difficult match for us was with the Azerbaijani team," he said. "Nevertheless, we were able to show a good result with a score of 2:0, and move on to the next round."
Ranghieri said that the Italian team is seriously prepared and intends to show only good results, as it has its own method of play.
"As you know, in beach volleyball, one player is usually tall, and the second one is short," Ranghieri said. "That is, one acts as a striker, the second one is a fullback. In our team, both players are tall, which brings the new system to the game and makes our team different from the others. Of course, we watched the other teams, and I can definitely say that they are very strong competitors."
Ranghieri also paid attention to the organization of the first European Games, which, in his opinion, is at the highest level.
"Everything is very good," said Ranghieri. "Especially I can mention the Athletes' Village, where everything is organized at the highest level. A lot of athletes came to the capital of Azerbaijan, which is probably due to the fact that the program of European Games includes many kinds of sports."
"I have the feeling that we participate in the Olympics," he said. "Our victory will certainly allow us to collect points, which in generally will help to win a license for participation in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games."
The European Games that kicked off in Baku June 12, will last till June 28. There is a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports.
More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe came to Baku to represent their nations over 17 days of competition. Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.
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