30/06/2014 10:00
Italy’s Olympian Matteo Martino elated with fourth-place finish at Lausanne Satellite
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellites - Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland, June 30, 2014. Italy’s Matteo Martino finished his campaign at the CEV Lausanne Satellite in fourth place, an impressive result taking into account that he and partner Matteo Cecchini had started their adventure in the qualification round played on Thursday. In the end it wasn’t enough for a medal as the Italians lost the bronze medal match to home heroes Sébastien Chevallier and Alexei Strasser, but there is plenty that Martino can be happy with.
“We started from the qualifications and we never thought that we could go that far in this tournament,” says the 2008 Olympian. “We played very well and we kept on improving match after match. We were happy to get the chance to play the bronze medal final with the Swiss pair.”
A few weeks ago Martino and Cecchini had participated in the 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship – Final in Cagliari, making it to the second elimination round where they lost to eventual gold medallists Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo. They had travelled to Lausanne with fairly low expectations: “When I packed my luggage, I only took clothes for two days, so it’s awesome that we could make it to the final day of the competition,” Martino reckons.
These guys have been playing together for only two months, so their performance in Lausanne is indeed remarkable: “Yes, we have been playing together for two months only, and we do not practice together that often, just once a week. We otherwise split our training sessions, I am working out a lot at the gym and do a lot of weights there. And during the winter season I still play indoors,” Martino says.
Martino enjoyed his time in Lausanne and the tournament held at the Olympic city. “I really love it here, this place is just beautiful! As for the remainder of the season, we have started playing really well, so I hope we can perform strong also in the next competitions. What used to be a dream is becoming a realistic goal after what we achieved here in Lausanne.”
Click here for more information on the CEV Satellite tournament in Lausanne
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