An 18-year-old Italian volleyball player of Nigerian ancestry died after falling from a hotel window just hours after her team was eliminated from the Champions League semi-finals, glamsquad reports
Julia Ituma was discovered dead at her hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday morning, April 13, following her team’s loss.
Ituma was believed to have fallen out of the window of her sixth-floor room at the Vally Hotel, which she shared with a teammate, according to Mail Onlne.
The budding volleyball star and ‘next big thing’ had been representing her team Igor Gorgonzola Novara in their second-leg knockout match against Turkish side Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul, where she had earned two points despite their defeat.
Julia Ituma, an Italian-Nigerian volleyball player, died after falling from a 6th-floor hotel window hours after her team lost a semi-final match in Turkey.
The Italian consulate in Turkey stated that they were working closely with Turkish officials and were assisting Ituma’s family.
According to CNN Turk, Ituma was discovered unresponsive on the ground outside the Valley Hotel at roughly 5.30 a.m. on Thursday.
She was pronounced dead shortly after paramedics and emergency services arrived on the scene.
Local police acknowledged that an inquiry into the incident has begun. Her remains was afterwards transferred for forensic analysis in order to identify the cause of her untimely demise.
Ituma was born in 2001 in Milan to Nigerian parents and was regarded as one of Italy’s best promising volleyball players. She began playing volleyball when she was 11 years old.
She had joined Igor Gorgonzola Novara three seasons before, having transferred from Club Italia. Ituma has recently ended the season with Igor, finishing fifth in the national Serie A1 division.
Ituma won a gold medal with the Under-19 Italian national team in the European Championship and the European Youth Olympic Festival last year. Prior to then, she was a runner-up with the Under-18 team following their 2021 defeat to Russia.
Ituma described to CEV in October last year how she acquired a strong passion for volleyball and realized her ability to become a professional player.