Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2019 – An epic performance by Italy, who left their opponents Germany dazed and wondering in amazement what hit them, was the highlight of the women’s semifinals at the 2019 Sitting Volleyball European Championships here Friday.

Not only did Italy make the final of the competition on Saturday, they also became the second European side to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralaympic Games, where they join Russia – their opponent in Saturday’s final here. Russia had already punched their own ticket to Japan last year.

Francesca Bosio was absolutely brilliant throughout the game, causing panic in the German camp whenever she came up to serve as she delivered 15 of Italy’s 25 aces and scored a match high of 25 points overall.

One court down, aces by Iuliia Mednikova either side of a kill from the middle by Ekaterina Okorokova brought home for Russia a match against a Ukrainian team that was not quite in it.

Russia will now be going for back-to-back European titles against an Italian side that has already reached its goal and should be out to showcase their best volleyball without any stress.

Exactly as in the men’s competition, it will be Ukraine v Germany for the women’s bronze