- Adrian Carambula represents Italy in beach volleyball at the Olympic Games
- He made an incredible serve in his last match at the Games.
- Carambula, 36, has explained why he uses the single serve in matches
Italian beach volleyball star Adrian Carambula delivered a shocking serve at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday night.
Carambula played alongside Alex Ranghieri when they faced Norwegian pair Anders Mol and Christian Soerum in their group stage match.
And the 36-year-old didn’t hold back on the biggest stage and put his box of tricks to the test.
Carambula has become known as ‘Mr Skyball’ due to his signature move of hitting his serve high in the air with plenty of spin to make it difficult for his opponents to control his return, and he did just that in Paris.
Even attempting it is a bold move, but he was also able to get some good accuracy when the ball landed inside the court and forced a response from the Norwegians.
Adrian Carambula performed his ‘Skyball’ serve at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday night
Carambula throws the ball high into the air and lifts his leg for good effect.
He revealed that he came up with a different way of serving because of his physical handicaps.
The Italian veteran previously explained why he serves ‘Skyball’, as he claimed he needed to find something different due to being just 1.80m tall and his opponents often tower over him.
“A lot of people identify with me. I know it’s not normal for me to be 1.81m tall and play at this level,” she told Olympics.com.
‘I’m not the fastest or the thinnest either, so I know I’m representing a big community and that makes me feel good. I feel a bit of responsibility for that.
‘I have the serve that all the kids love, because it’s almost like a superhero. It’s the weapon I use to serve. It catches people out of rhythm. They lose a lot of sense of where they’re going on the court and with that my partner can get involved later on and get a lot of blocks.’
Carambula acquired this skill on the beaches of Miami and revealed that it now comes naturally to him.
“I’ve learned to master it because I don’t even practice it anymore. In the game and under pressure, that’s when it comes out.”
Carambula came out on the losing end on Wednesday, but he and partner Alex Ranghieri won their opening match on Sunday.
Unfortunately for Carambula, her incredible serve could not lead Italy to victory as they were defeated 21-12, 21-15 by Mol and Soerum.
But Italy won their opening group game on Sunday, meaning Carambula and Ranghieri still have a chance of qualifying for the latter stages of the competition.
They will be back in action on Friday when they face Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt.