Paolo Nicolai

Paolo Nicolai (born 8 June 1988) is an Italian beach volleyball player.[1]

Paolo Nicolai

Biography

Nicolai was born in Ortona, province of Chieti. In 2007 and 2008, he won the FIVB Youth Beach Volleyball World Championships (with Francesco Giontella).[2]

From 2009 he played with different partners (Matteo Varnier and Matteo Martino), becoming an Italian champion once, until in 2011 the Italian federation had him partnered with Daniele Lupo. Lupo and Nicolai qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games, where they were eliminated by the Dutch team Nummerdor-Schuil in the quarter-finals. Nicolai was elected FIVB Most Improved Player 2012.

Lupo and Nicolai won the Beach Volleyball European World Championships twice, once in 2014 and again in 2016. A series of podiums in the World Tour also granted them the qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics, where they reached the final, winning the silver medal.[3] They reached the final, despite having to qualify as "lucky losers" from the pool stage.[2]

References

Awards
Preceded by
 Jānis Šmēdiņš (LAT)
Men's FIVB World Tour "Best Attacker"
2014
Succeeded by
 Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA)
Preceded by
 Mariusz Prudel (POL)
Men's FIVB World Tour "Most Improved"
2012
Succeeded by
 Álvaro Morais Filho (BRA)
Preceded by
 Alison Cerutti (BRA)
Men's FIVB World Tour "Best Blocker"
2016
Succeeded by
 Phil Dalhausser (USA)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.