CONGRATS BOYS!
After claiming a historic silver medal at this year’s men’s EuroVolley in Bulgaria and Italy, Slovenia men’s national team around Italy’s Volleyball legend Andrea Giani was awarded as the country’s Team of the Year by Slovenia’s Association of Sports Journalists at the annual Athlete of the Year event which was held in Gallus Hall at Ljubljana’s Cankarjev dom.
There was almost no doubt that the prestigious award would go to the men’s national Volleyball team this year after they first claimed the 2015 edition of the CEV Volleyball European League with a streak of 12 wins in as many matches and following their exceptional second place and silver medal at the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship. 119 out of 131 votes cast by journalists involved in the voting process went indeed to Giani’s protégés.
“I am really happy with this award. We were disappointed so many times and although we always worked hard, we didn’t manage to fulfil our goals in the past. However, we kept going and going and we never gave up. We knew we were capable of achieving an outstanding result and I am so proud of my teammates, our staff and everybody who supported us for all these years and never stopped believing in us,” Slovenia’s team captain Tine Urnaut said receiving the news that his team had won the award shortly after edging with TRENTINO Diatec his mentor Giani’s team of Calzedonia VERONA in the Italian national league.
“It’s a great honour for all of us to receive this award. All of my teammates would gladly be here tonight, but unfortunately they all have commitments towards their respective clubs. It just feels great. Probably none of us imagined we would have gone so far. On one hand, we will try to enjoy these moments as long as possible, but on the other hand we have a lot of work in front of us,” Jan Kozamernik told the press after receiving the award together with the President of the Slovenian Volleyball Federation, Mr Metod Ropret.
This silver from the men’s EuroVolley is only the second Slovenian medal in team sports since the country’s independence in 1991 and for most sports enthusiasts and media in Slovenia it stands also as the greatest ever accomplishment in team sports for their country since this triumphal run united all sports fans in an unimaginable Volleyball euphoria.
(image: cev.lu)