Marta Menegatti ‘I think we can…” con Becky Perry/ Intanto BRONZO ad Alanya CEV Masters 2017 ( ORO Lahti-Liukkonen & Parkkinen )
E finalmente è arrivato il primo podio per Marta Menegatti I coppia con Rebecca Perry.
E’ successo ad Alania in Turchia dove la beacher Menegatti si può dire sia di casa per quanto riguarda il podio, visto il precedente podio d’argento in copia con Viktoria Orsi Toth silver medals at the 2010 FIVB U21 World Championship.
Certo adesso ad Analya hanno vinto la medaglia d’oro le finlandesi Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Anniina Parkkinen, l’argento è andato alle tedesche Germany’s Kim Behrens and Anni Schumacher, ma il bronzo conquistato dalle italiane Marta Menegatti & Rebecca Perry è oltremodo significativo per …mille motivi.
Anche per questo ripercorriamo tutte le tappe che in Turchia hanno portato sul podio le azzurre Marta & Becky, ma ci piace aprire e chiudere il nostro completo reportage by beach volley , con lo speciale focus sulle speranze e le aspettative di Marta & Becky in considerazione anche delle recenti ‘novità relativamente ai prossimi impegni della coppia.
Perciò eccovi gli specifici ‘alfa & omega’ internazionali by sito ufficiale CEV e quindi in inglese, oltre al viaggio step by step , dalle qualificazioni fino al podio-bronzo azzurro e by sito ufficiale della Federvolley italiana.
ANTEPRIMA NEWS ( by www.cev.lu, 15/07/2017 )/ UN MATCH ALLA VOLTA PER PUNTARE AL PODIO/ Menegatti and Perry – good match in the making, taking it one match at a time / 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Alanya Masters
Alanya, Turkey, July 15, 2017. 2011 European champion and two-time Olympian Marta Menegatti is certainly the biggest star gracing the sand courts at Kleopatra Beach with her participation in the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Alanya Masters. Teaming up with much less experienced, but not less fascinating as a Beach Volleyball player Rebecca Diane Perry, Marta hopes to keep her Turkish success story moving forward.
Having lost in the first round to another two-time Olympian, Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo McMillan, and her partner Paula Soria Gutiérrez, they got onto the winning track with a victory over the home team Bugra Eryildiz and Merve Celebi to stay in contention. After their first competition day is finished, they take time to sit down and talk about their newly formed partnership, their performance, their hopes and their goals.
“We have to play better, to battle more… We focused better for the second game and we are still in the tournament. We have to forget the first match and think forward,” Menegatti says. “I think we can improve a lot, but I think we are a good match. This is just the second season for Rebi. I know that when you come from indoor Volleyball and want to become a really good Beach Volleyball player, you need time. You need to play matches and gain experience to understand this game, because it is really, really different.”
On the day they played against the Turkish duo, the Turkish media officially announced that this fall Rebecca Perry will be joining THY ISTANBUL, also known as the Turkish Airlines team. She had been away from indoor Volleyball and playing only on the sand for more than a year and a half and it was only normal that that was the first thing she had to comment on.
“Beach Volleyball is right now my number one love and I wish that I could stay with it, but unfortunately indoor Volleyball pays the bills and I have a house to pay for,” Perry explains her decision. “I had some other offers to play in the Champions League, but I chose Turkish Airlines, because Volleyball in Turkey is really high-level and even the second division is really strong. They seem really ambitious and really professional and it is a big goal for them to make it to the first division. I want to play for a team that has that goal of winning a championship. And I like Istanbul a lot! The club also supports that I am playing Beach Volleyball and I am in a position to finish the season with enough time to return to Beach Volleyball. Unfortunately, I will not have an off-season for Beach Volleyball and that is going to interfere with the amount of improvement I could have on the beach during these eight months. But what is most important is that I will still be able to come back for the beach season next April.”
“I am really proud to play for Turkish Airlines, but I had not publicised it anywhere, because I wanted to focus on Beach Volleyball until the season is over. The fact that the news came out in Turkish media while I am playing at the Alanya Masters in Turkey is a mere coincidence I guess. But my life is full of coincidences...” she adds.
Some two years ago Perry, who was born in Texas in 1988, formally took on Italian citizenship and went on to change her federation with the FIVB. “But I have been Italian my whole life. I was supposed to be born with a passport, but my great grandfather never had that done for my grandfather, so he could never do it for my mom, so she could never do it for me. We finally had it done after tracking down some birth documents from Italy that prove our ancestry. It feels really good!” Perry tells her story. “I took it upon myself to change federations, knowing that there is a limit to the number of foreigners that could play on an indoor team in Italy. Maybe it was destiny, because on the same day in November 2015 that I got the email officially confirming my change of federation, I also got a phone call from our assisting coach saying, ‘We heard you got a passport, so would you be interested in changing federations and playing Beach Volleyball for Italy?’ That was so weird, because I had already done it and it had literally gone through that day.”
Several months later Perry and Menegatti are already teammates and 2017 is their first season together as a pair on the sand. “Marta had to find a new partner and when the coach she has had for ten years told her that he sees potential in me and we could be a really good team together, she took his valuable advice and decided to call me and ask me if I would be her partner,” Perry explains how it happened.
“The first goal at the beginning of the season was to qualify for the World Championship and we made it. We are very satisfied, because we had some problems. We started at the beginning of February and did not have much time to prepare, so it was difficult for us. Now we need to focus game by game, do our best to win and to improve our level,” Menegatti comments.
With her previous partner, Viktoria Orsi Toth, she came to Alanya some seven years ago, and won silver medals at the 2010 FIVB U21 World Championship. Now she is back at the beautiful Mediterranean coast of Turkey and admits this country has been good to her.
“Yes, I have some really good memories from here. I like Turkey. I like playing here even if it is really, really hot and difficult to play. But each time it has been great for me. Also two years ago, Viki and I finished second at the Antalya Open on the FIVB World Tour.”
Perry also takes the excessive Alanya temperatures quite philosophically. “The heat adds one more level to the game,” she says. “Beach Volleyball is like chess. You have to think about what you are doing and what the other team is doing. So if it is already which team is stronger with technique and tactics, now it is which team is stronger when you are under the pressure of the sun. But other than being hot, Alanya is a beautiful resort town with many tourists from many nationalities vacationing here. Having just played against the Turkish team, I saw more people on the stands, cheering proudly for their own, than I expected to see. So it is a nice atmosphere to play in.”
“Now we focus on our next match. We always focus on the next match. We take it one game at a time and hope to win all the way to the podium,” Perry concludes.
Engage with the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Alanya Masters on social media by using the competition’s official hashtag #EuroBeachVolley.
PRIMA MAIN NEWS ( by www.federvolley.it, 14/07/2017 ) / Cev Masters BeachVolley di Alanya : Menegatti-Perry perdono la prima
Al Cev Masters in corso ad Alanya (TUR) Marta Menegatti e Rebecca Perry perdono il primo incontro contro le spagole Elsa-Soria per 0-2 (12-21 ; 11-21).
Alle ore 17:30 affronteranno la coppia turca Eryildiz/Merve per proseguire nel torneo
SECONDA MAIN NEWS by www.federvolley.it, 15/07/2017 ) / Beach Masters Alanya – Menegatti –Perry continuano la risalita
La coppia femminile azzurra Menegatti-Perry prosegue il suo cammino nel tabellone perdenti. Dopo aver superato nella giornata di ieri le turche Eryildiz-Merve 2-0, oggi hanno battuto 2-1 le spagnole Fernandez Navarro-Lobato 2-1. Questa sera alle 19 si confronteranno con le francesi Jupiter-Lusson per evitare il settimo posto e salire ancora in graduatoria.
TERZA MAIN NEWS ( by www.federvolley.it, 15/07/2017 ) / Beach Masters Alanya – Marta e Becky continuano a vincere (tra le perdenti)
Marta Menegatti e Becky Perry hanno vinto un altro match del tabellone perdenti del Masters di Alanya. Le due azzurre hanno battute le francesi Jupiter-Lusson 2-0 (21-14 21-18) e domani mattina giocheranno per evitare il quonto posto contro le ucraine Davidova-Shchypkova.
QUARTA MAIN NEWS ( by www.federvolley.it, 16/07/2017 ) / Beach Alanya Masters – Menegatti-Perry in semifinale
Marta Menegatti e Becky Perry hanno completato il loro recupero nel tabellone perdenti ed hanno conquistato l’ingresso in semifinale battendo Davidova-Shchypkova 2-0 (21-18 22-20) tra poco (ore 13) le due azzurre affronteranno le finlandesi Lahti-Parkkinen, inseguendo la finale per il 1 e 2 posto.
QUINTA MAIN NEWS ( by www.federvolley.it, 16/07/2017 ) / Beach Alanya Master: finale 3°-4° posto per Menegatti-Perry
Marta Menegatti e Becky Perry sono state battute 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) dalle finlandesi Lahti-Parkkinen nella semifinale del Master in corso di svolgimento ad Alanya. Il duo tricolore tornerà dunque in campo nella finale che vale la medaglia di bronzo contro le tedesche Ittlinger-Mersmann alle ore 15 italiane.
SESTA MAIN NEWS ( by www.federvolley.it, 16/07/2017 ) / Beach Masters Alanya – Menegatti-Perry chiudono sul terzo gradino del podio
Marta Menegatti e Becky Perry hanno chiuso il torneo sul terzo gradino del podio il Masters Cev di Alanya (Tur). Piccolo importante lampo di sole per le Azzurre in una stagione sin qui abbastanza avara di soddisfazioni. Dopo la lunga risalita nel tabellone perdenti, Marta e Becky, questa mattina sono state battute in semifinale dalle finlandesi Lahti-Parkkinen 2-0 (21-17 21-17). Poi nel pomeriggio si sono riscattate battendo nella finalina per il bronzo le tedesche Ittlinger-Mersmann 2-0 (21-19 21-19). Un risultato importante soprattutto per il morale della coppia guidata dal brasiliano Lissandro.
SETTIMA E LAST MAIN NEWS ( by www.cev.lu, 16/07/2017 ) /2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Alanya Masters / Thrilling final brings Lahti and Parkkinen to Alanya Masters gold
Alanya, Turkey, July 16, 2017. Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Anniina Parkkinen triumphed with the gold medals at the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Alanya Masters after emerging victorious from a thrilling final with Germany’s Kim Behrens and Anni Schumacher. The bronze medals went to Italy’s Marta Menegatti and Rebecca Perry.
Cruising straight through the winners’ bracket, Lahti and Parkkinen continued their streak onto the semifinals where they disposed of Menegatti and Perry in straight sets – 2-0 (21-17, 21-17).
Behrens and Schumacher, who had already lost to the Finns in the third round, had to take a short detour through the losers’ bracket where they gave Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo McMillan and Paula Soria Gutiérrez a 2-0 (21-12, 21-18) shutout before repeating this performance in the all-German semifinal against compatriots Sandra Ittlinger and Teresa Mersmann – 2-0 (21-16, 21-18).
The full tribunes at centre court at Kleopatra Beach got to enjoy a really hard-fought final with some fantastic rallies with solid contribution from both sides of the net. The first two sets went well into extra-time. Behrens and Schumacher stayed more concentrated in the last rallies of the first set to take the lead, but Lahti and Parkkinen kept their cool, managed to save some match points for the German team and took the second to tie the match. The tie-breaker was no less exciting, but it was the Finns that had the momentum that took them to a 2-1 (22-24, 25-23, 15-12) triumph after more than one hour of playtime.
This is the first ever gold medal at such a high level for either of the two Finnish players. “The feeling is amazing! We had a great tournament – we won all our matches,” 20-year-old Anniina Parkkinen said. “In addition to these trophies and the gold medals, we are taking away with us from Alanya the great feeling and all the memories we have from the games.”
“Our opponents in the final played really well, but we had a really good block-defence and that was the key to our success, even through the whole tournament,” Taru Lahti commented.
The bronze medal match before that was also a very tough battle between two equally strong teams. Menegatti and Perry managed to close both sets narrowly in their favour and made the podium after a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win against Ittlinger and Mersmann.
EXTRATIME by SS/ In cover la coppia ‘bronzo’ Marta Menegatti & Rebecca Perry con tanto di trofei , con Marta ritornata finalmente …Nostra Signora del Podio ad Antalya in Turchia.
Poi in fotogallery ripartiamo dalla sabbia ‘ottomana’ con le …quattro mani di Rebecca Perry e Marta Menegatti ad indicare l’Hastag EurobeachVolley verso quel podio che fa morale e classifica World Tour al tempo stesso.
Frutto del qualità el gioco, tra ricezione e ..sedute sulla sabbia dove si è cementata l’intersa di Marta & Becky verso il successivo OK e relativo podio.
Che vi presentiamo il flash dulcis in fundo con da sinistra le argentate tedesche Germany’s Kim Behrens and Anni Schumacher, le golden medals finlandesi Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Anniina Parkkinen e le azzurre del bronzo Marta Manegatti & Rebecca Perry smile podium e ...tutto OK come nel kit Hastag.
Sergio Sottovia
www.polesinesport.it
