Ángel Dennis (born 13 June 1977) is a Cuban-born Italian

volleyball player {{short description, none This is a list of lists of volleyball players, and of notable examples in fiction. Lists of notable players * List of international volleyball players * List of American beach volleyball players * List of Chinese volleyb ...

. Dennis played with the Cuban men's national volleyball team at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney, where he finished in seventh place. He was widely regarded as the most talented player on the Cuban men's team. He helped the Cuban team win the bronze medal at the 1998 FIVB World Championship in Japan.

Club volleyball

Dennis played for IVECO Palermo from 1998 to 2000. After a period of inactivity, Dennis returned to play in 2003-2004 for Latina Volley, before moving to Lube Banca Marche Macerata the following year, after a short stint in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. With Lube he won a top national division and an Italian Supercup in 2006, and two CEV Cups (2005–2006). In 2017, Dennis signed a contract with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

2001 Defection

In 2001, Dennis was one of six players on the Cuban men's national volleyball team to leave a hotel they stayed at in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

for a tournament, and from there rode a train to Italy for political asylum. The other players were Leonel Marshall, Jorge Luis Hernández, Ihosvany Hernández, Yasser Romero, and Ramón Gato. Once they were granted asylum in Italy, this group was referred to as "the defectors".

Personal life

Dennis married Italian volleyball player Simona Rinieri.

References

External links