MORE THAN 220,000 ATTENDANCE, CONGRATULATION FROM THE PRESIDENT WEI - The World Championship fills the stands and sells out: 220,000 people have lived the volleyball fever in the italian venues, up to date. An astonishing result, no doubt.
For the italian debut against Japan, 11,800 completely filled the Assago Forum: the highest record to date, according to such a limited space. And that makes forty thousand spectators in the eleven matches played so far in Milan. PalaTrieste, too, has seen a huge invasion, mainly by polish fans: 5,000 for the first match against Canada, 6,540 for Canada-Serbia and 6,600 for Poland-Serbia, the highest peak ever for that venue. Another place that has warmly welcomed the volleyball champions was Verona. There the public has had the opportunity to admire Brazil, Cuba and Julio Velasco's Spain, with more than 32,000 spectators. Another 18,000 - or even more - for the three days in Modena, while Turin has broken its all-time record (5,000) for France-Bulgaria. Reggio Calabria counted to 4,600 when USA faced Argentina. Over 21,000 in Ancona and 15,000 in Catania (soon to get to 20,000 thanks to Italy's match being played tonight).
The FIVB President Jizhong Wei, from Catania, celebrates the great success of the event: "It's thousands viewers who have decreed the success of the championships. Such a large and passionate audience comes to attend to the matches because of the high quality of the italian league. It's a further demonstration of the love that the Italians have for volleyball. Everywhere I go, I meet nice and warm people. During these days I enjoyed the beautiful city of Catania that can offer significant historical and natural beauties:  from the sea to the mountains (the president visited Taormina and Mount Etna on an excursion). Should I assign a vote, I'd say 9 out of 10, but just because Heaven only deserves 10..."
That's it, important words and figures.
And now we are so close to the beginning of the third stage, which will be held in Rome and Florence. The capital city has once again proven to be a unique place in terms of passion towards the major international events. Tickets for semifinal and final are quickly going to be sold out, for matches that will certainly ensure warmth and cheer to the qualified teams. The organizing committee gave notice that there is still a small availability of tickets for days 4, 5 and 6 of October. Last coupons can be purchased directly at the box office of PalaLottomatica. And it's "race for the ticket" also in Florence, while waiting to know all the teams that will be included in the tuscan groups. More than 9,000 tickets have already been sold for the three days, and from tomorrow many people will go queueing again to secure a place for an event that's impossible to miss.