Italy's Under-20 basketball team is European champion, even defeating the racists: "Thank you for your comments, you've given us a boost."
The double victory of the Azzurri
Winners on the court and off it, in life. They are the young Italian Under-20 basketball team , who on Sunday on the island of Crete became European champions by defeating Lithuania in the final, a match that ended 83-66.
Italy thus returned to win European gold, repeating the success of 2013 and 1992, when however the category was Under 22.
A stunning triumph, complicated by bad luck: the young players coached by Alessandro Rossi had to deal with a real injury crisis , reaching the final against their Lithuanian peers with only eight players and four injured. But it was enough to secure the final victory, with the Azzurri led by the talent of Francesco Ferrari : the national team's star player was included in the European Championship's all-star quintet and named the tournament's MVP, thanks in part to his 26 points in the final.
A success marred by the horrific racist insults that appeared on social media, even as soon as the 12 players called up for the European Championships in Crete were officially announced, due to the presence of Black and second-generation Italian athletes, children of immigrants, on the team. Racist phrases were still present in the comments on the photo of coach Rossi's 12 players posted on Italbasket's Facebook profile: "What language do they speak?", "Italy, all colored," "Africa basketball," "Where are the Italians?" were the tenor of some comments on the photo.
The best response to the racist comments came from David Torresani , one of the driving forces of the Italy U20 team who finished the European Championship with an average of 10.4 points and 3.4 assists per game, who vented in a 'story' on Instagram: "Thank you so much for all the negative and racist comments under the various posts, you gave us energy," said David, who then tagged his national teammates in the 'story'.
Young Italian internationals who received compliments from Coach Rossi: “It's a great joy for these guys. I want the cover to be all about them. I'm also happy for the Federation, which has started a project of this kind, and I think this is a great response for the entire movement and the clubs that train these guys all year. It's a victory for everyone. We're happy and we're enjoying it.” Basketball Federation President Gianni Petrucci shared the same opinion: “This is a team that has made us fall in love along the way, overcoming limitations and bad luck. Congratulations to Coach Rossi and the entire staff for an extraordinary result that hasn't been achieved since 2013.”
l'Unità
