Italian beach volleyball made history this past August thanks to Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai, who scored silver against a team that’s virtually synonymous with the sport, Brazil’s.
Tuesday, October 11, as partner to the Italian Air Force, Human Tecar re-experienced the excitement of Copacabana along the Tiber River – beneath the Ponte Flaminio Bridge, to be precise: a monumental, spectacular location that was lit up by the colors of the Italian flag for an exceptional soirée.
We have long been giving Air Force athletes the full support of our MO, which means we’ve seen up close the talent and congeniality of the four athletes who played against each other on Tuesday: Lupo, Nicolai, Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula.
It is thanks to such formidable players that this relatively ‘recent’ sport for Italians has increasingly come into the limelight. Tuesday evening, Lupo & Nicolai reiterated their Olympic victory against Ranghieri & Carambula, which ultimately led the former to win the five-ring silver. “Against,” however, is not the right word in this case, since the airmen’s was more of an ‘all-in-the-family’ celebration than a conflict – so much so all four were relaxed and friendly after the match, jokingly promising to try for another rematch in some likewise “cool, trendy” location. (The actual Italian word they used is extremely informal, but who wouldn’t forgive these kids just about anything?)
The evening was incidentally a fun, hip way to inaugurate the new beach volleyball court within the Recreational Club for Air Force employees. There to cheer and celebrate, besides the Human Tecar crew supporting Air Force athletes, were Chief of Staff, General Enzo Vecciarelli, General Lucio Bianchi, President of the Air Force Sports Center in charge of Communications, Vice President of the AFSC, Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro Loiudice, CONI President Giovanni Malagò and FIPAV President Carlo Magri.
