Paola Egonu

Paola Ogechi Egonu (born 18 December 1998) is Italian volleyball player of Nigerian descent.[2] She plays for Imoco Volley and is part of the Italy women's national volleyball team. She participated at the 2018 Montreux Volley Masters,[1] 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championship,[3] and 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League.[4]

Paola Egonu
Personal information
Full namePaola Ogechi Egonu
NationalityItalian
Born (1998-12-18) 18 December 1998
Cittadella, Italy
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)[1]
Weight79 kg (174 lb)
Spike3.44 m (135 in)
Block3.21 m (126 in)
Volleyball information
PositionOpposite
Current clubImoco Volley Conegliano
Number18
Career
YearsTeams
2013–2017Club Italia
2017–2019AGIL Novara
2019–Imoco Volley
National team
2015–Italy
Honours
Women’s volleyball
Representing  Italy
World Championship
2018 JapanTeam
European Championship
2021 Serbia/Bulgaria/Croatia/RomaniaTeam
2019 TurkeyTeam
FIVB World Grand Prix
2017 Nanjing

On club level she played for Club Italia in 2015.[5] She was selected to play the Italian League All-Star game in 2017.[6] In 2017 she moved to AGIL Novara.

She was awarded the prize for Woman of the Year 2019 by D - la Repubblica delle donne, a weekly magazine of la Repubblica.[7]

She was one of the flagbearers of the Olympic Flag at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.

Personal life

Of Nigerian and later acquired Italian citizenship, she was born at Cittadella, in Veneto, to Nigerian parents. Her father, Ambrose, is Igbo from Imo State and her mother, Eunice, from Benin City.[8][9] She has two siblings, Angela and Andrea.[10] Her cousin Terry Enweonwu is a volleyball player as well.[11]

In November 2018, in an interview for the Corriere della Sera, she came out, revealing to have a girlfriend that comforted her after the defeat at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship.[12][13] Later on, her girlfiend's name was revealed: she is the volleyball player Katarzyna Skorupa.[14]

In 2020, she dubbed a characted for the italian version of the animation movie Soul, produced by Disney and Pixar.[15]

In the season 2020-2021, she co-presented the italian show Le Iene.[16]

Awards

Clubs

Individuals

References
  1. "Player - Paola Ogechi Egonu - Montreux Volley Masters 2018". www.volleymasters.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  2. "Paola, Sara e Valentina: è colorata la nuova Italia del volley femminile". Corriere.it. Eleonora Cozzari. 2016-01-07. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  3. "Player - Paola Ogechi Egonu - FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Japan 2018". japan2018.fivb.com. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  4. "Player - Paola Ogechi Egonu - FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2018". www.volleyball.world. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  5. "Team Roster – Italy". FIVB.org. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  6. "All Star Game: A Bergamo la sfida Selezione Italia vs Resto del Mondo" (in Italian). Bergamo: Volleyball.it. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  7. "Paola Egonu è la donna dell'anno D: la campionessa di volley premiata dalle lettrici" (in Italian). 12 December 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  8. Cozzari, Eleonora (7 January 2016). "Paola, Sara e Valentina: è colorata la nuova Italia del volley femminile" (in Italian). Bergamo: Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  9. Morvillo, Candida (3 November 2018). "Paola Egonu: 'Le mie lacrime in Giappone e la lezione della mia fidanzata'" [Paola Egonu:]. Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  10. "Paola Egonu: "Schiaccio anche il razzismo. Il futuro? Da avvocato"". Vanity Fair Italia (in Italian). 2017-06-20. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  11. "Volley femminile, Europei U18 - L'Italia piange in Finale, la maledizione continua: la Russia trionfa al tie-break, argento per Enweonwu e compagne". OA Sport (in Italian). 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  12. Morvillo, Candida (2018-03-11). "Paola Egonu: "La lezione della mia fidanzata dopo le lacrime in Giappone"". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  13. "Volley, Egonu: "Ho una fidanzata"". La Gazzetta dello Sport - Tutto il rosa della vita (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  14. Sport, Redazione (2018-11-11). "Gazzetta: Egonu, la sconfitta in Supercoppa e il bacio alla fidanzata Skorupa Foto". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  15. "Volley, Paola Egonu protagonista nel nuovo film della Disney: sarà la voce di Sognaluna in Soul". OA Sport (in Italian). 2020-12-12. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  16. "Da Madame alla Canalis, ecco le dieci conduttrici de "Le Iene"". Tgcom24 (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-01-06.
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