Upon the conclusion of 2022 Women’s Volleyball World Championship, a breaking news about Paola Egonu’s decision to quit Italian national team has prompted rounds of controversies over racism in the country’s sports community.
It all began since the 23-year old superstar also the bronze medalist of the tournament was heard telling her agent:
“This is my last game with the national team. You can’t understand they still ask me why I am Italian.”
Although we have no clue about to who Egonu was referring, the Italian volleyball federation head Giuseppe Manfredi told local media that she was racially abused on social media after Italy lost Thursday’s semi-final against Brazil. Manfredi also expressed his sorrow for the attacks and noted that Egonu had represented Italy at all levels.
In the latest interview with Sky News, Egonu said that rather than retiring from the national team, she would like to take a break – stressing that it was due to being the target of racist comments among other issues. She was puzzled why she had to represent those who questioning her nationality to play for the country.
Amid clusters of racist comments on the social media platform, Egonu has garnered many supports from fans and other politicians including the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi who quoted her as source of pride to Italian sport and supported her to fight for more good results for Italy.
https://twitter.com/palazzo_chigi/status/1581627866194010113?s=21&t=iJv7nSWToHTWRZ7Kg2x8HA
Instavolley is absolutely at Egonu’s back to stand up to racism and look forward to seeing her play in any international tournaments soon no matter which country she chooses to represent. How can a tournament miss out a super talented players like Egonu?
