There is always a new lesson to learn in sports as in life, and our JCU Athletics delegation knows what it means when it comes to participating in important international tournaments such as the 5th World InterUniversities Championship (WIUC) in Pola, Croatia.
Three teams and three indivdidual athletes represented John Cabot Universitiy in the tournament, and each one of them gave their best during their respective games and races, regardless of the final results.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
JCU Men’s Basketball team accomplished the best results, winning 2 out of 3 games and missing the qualification to the Quarter Finals by a thread. Our Gladiators had a very difficult round pool and had to face tough teams such as the Czech Technical University of Prague (CZ), Leonard De Vinci (FR), and West Bohemia University (CZ).
JCU won against Leonard De Vinci (LDV), 40-34 and against West Bohemia University (WBU), 45-33 but lost to Czech Technical University of Prague (CTUP), 45-31. A the end of the first round, JCU was at the top of the ranking together with CTUP and LDV, but due to WIUC regulations that took into consideration the score difference among all three teams, JCU didn’t make it. In addition, CTUP “cheated” in a way that the team played really strong against our Gladiators but decided to play it loose against LDV, giving the chance to the French team to qualify in our place – A typical Italian BISCOTTO!
However, our Gladiators played excellent games showing great skills and determination. Like JCU Basketball coach Serraino pointed out, “This is so far, one of the best teams we have ever had at JCU!” Unfortunately, most of you will leave next semester, but in the meantime, we want to thank all of you for being part of this great team!
Congratulations, Gladiators! We are really proud of you!
MEN’S 5vs5 SOCCER
JCU Men’s 5vs5 Soccer team was able to win 1 out of 3 games, ranking third in their round pool. In their first game, our Gladiators had to face University Cergy Pontoise (FR) against which they lost 5-1. JCU also lost the second game against Australian College of Kuiwait (KW), 1-0 but was able to make up for the two games in the last match against Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ES), winning 2-1.
JCU played well, and our Gladiators didn’t give up easily despite some important absences in the team that could have definitely had a significant role in the tournament. So congratulations, Gladiators!
MEN’S SOCCER
It was not a positive tournament for JCU Men’s Soccer team that didn’t win any game. Nontheless, our Gladiators played with their heart and tried their best during all the games despite they also had to cope with the lack of some important players.
JCU round pool was composed by the University of West Bohemia (CZ), University of Economics of Bratislava (SK), and IESEG Paris (FR).
The opponents were really strong, but our Gladiators had nothing less if they were just able to set up the games in a different way. Except for the first one where JCU still had to warm up the engine, our Gladiators fought well in the other two games, but due to some doubtful referee’s actions and a little dose of bad luck, they didn’t pass the first round.
Defeats are useful to learn and improve anyways, so keep up with the good work and focus on your next games in the Universities of Rome Championship where you are currently performing amazingly!
WOMEN’S SWIMMING
A great accomplishment came from the swimming pool. JCU representative Flavia Antonelli performed greatly, especially in the 200m freestyle where she was able to conquer the Finals and ranked 6th with the remarkable time of 2’14″95.
Flavia also competed in the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke where she got 4th place in both of her heats.
As usual, Flavia confirms her talent and commitment, standing out in all of her races. Congratulations, Flavia!
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TENNIS
Our two tennis delegates Marco Distefano and Zaylie Collins played both the individual match and the mix double. They performed very well in all of their games, but unfortunately they didn’t win by only a few points.
Good job, anyways! We know that you gave your best!
At the end of this experience, our Gladiators can take home wonderful memories that go way beyond the sports results per se. We knew that the level of the WIUC was high, and you did your best no matter what!
We hope that this experience helped you create stronger bonds among each other and more cohesive teams because this will be fundamental for your future games. What’s done is done, now we have to think ahead and focus on our tournaments in Rome because you still have a lot to prove and win!
Keep working hard! We are proud of each one of you!
#GOGLADIATORS
