ROME – Comments from Carolina VILLARIGUES (POR) and Eleonora BUTTITTA (ITA) during the group phase of the Ladies Category at the FISTF World Cup in Rome on Saturday.
Carolina VILLARIGUES (POR)
On how she feels after her 6-0 victory against Marianna MALINDETROU (GRE):
“Now, I feel OK. In the first half, my head was not here. I was missing, missing, missing, but I focused myself and it was OK.”
On whether participation for ladies is improving:
“Here I’m seeing players I’ve never seen before, so that must be a good thing because there are players I’ve never seen, I’ve never heard of them.
“But there are others who are not here. So some are coming up but others are letting it down.”
On how participation for ladies can improve:
“I think it’s always going to be hard, because what I’m seeing is most of the girls do not see this like a boy, like a major thing. I think the new ladies come because their fathers are coming – uncles, friends – not because they want this. There are a few of us who really want this and we go here, there and there, but the other ones, I think they come just because.”
Eleonora BUTTITTA (ITA)
On the level of play in the ladies category:
“The level of the game is improving, above all for women. We were talking just yesterday that in Italy there are many woman who play in the Italian championships.”
“You see this also at world level. Even though there were no international tournaments, they’ve been training a lot and I’ve seen that the level is higher.”
On there being a separate ladies category:
“For the World Cup, I am happy to play in the ladies category. It’s always a challenge every year. The rest of the year, I would like that the game is more integrated but that is already happening.”
FISTF News nl/spd