Italy beat Japan in the women’s volleyball gold medal match on Wednesday and then immediately entered another competition – to decide who would lead the post-match celebrations in Berlin.
The team with big ambitions and even larger personalities looked comfortable from the opening exchanges at the Max-Schmeling-Halle, losing only the second set en route to a routine 3-1 win.
“I’m very happy for my team,” Italy captain Benedetta Sartori told the FISU Games News Service. “We needed to win for Italy and we have. It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. It’s a gold medal.”
Sartori, a middle blocker, was part of the Italy team that lost in the quarter-finals to Poland in 2023. In the German capital on Wednesday, the 24-year-old was instrumental as her side ran out comfortable winners.
“Two years ago I played the World University Games in Chengdu,” she said. “The FISU Games are very important for me and for my team, and I’m proud that we won the gold medal.”
While proud of her players, Sartori could not be sure who from among them would be leading the victory parade into the small hours of Thursday morning. “My teammate, Alice Nardo, is crazy, and probably she will decide,” Sartori said. “Everybody is crazy on my team. I love my team.”
An emotional Nardo told the FISU Games News Service that wearing the national colours of Italy was a dream she had held since she first began playing the sport aged five.
“They scream a lot, but we scream more“
“We trained together for a month and this was the best possible ending for us,” she said. “Japan are a very good team and they scream a lot, but we scream more. We achieved it, so I am very happy. Now I want to celebrate with my team.
“We are party girls so it will be a very tight competition for who will be crowned the leader. I want to eat an Italian pizza but before that, I think I want to eat sushi. I can’t choose between them.”
For Japan and their captain Miyabe Ameze, it was a second women’s final loss in the past two editions of the FISU Games, following the 3-0 reversal to People’s Republic of China in Chengdu.
“I told my teammates, ‘I don’t want to get another silver medal’ but I got it,” Miyabe Ameze said. “Today’s game was super exciting and fantastic so I just enjoyed it and don’t feel as sad as last time.
“Now I have a good feeling. I want to rest and sleep, but today we will celebrate our second place and have a drink, perhaps some sake.”
While there was a clear difference between Italy and Japan on the court on Wednesday, it seems there was little to separate them off it.
The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games volleyball competition concludes on Thursday with the men’s final.
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