Italy's U20 team, European champions, took on racists: "Thank you for the insults, you've given us a boost."

After winning the European Basketball Championship , defeating Lithuania in the final , the Italy U20 team has lifted a burden that had been brewing since the start of the tournament. Through an Instagram story by David Torresani , one of the key figures in the Azzurri's triumph, the locker room took issue with the haters who had lashed out at the team, which is comprised partly of Black athletes and second-generation Italians. "Thank you so much to all the negative and racist comments under the various posts," the post read, "you've given us so much energy!" The message was signed, with tags, by all the members of the squad.

Italian basketball against racists

Racist comments and unspeakable insults appeared on July 12th under the team photo posted on Facebook by the Italbasket page, which presented the squad ready to start the tournament. The Azzurri, in silence, played wonderful games, led Italy to the top of Europe, and finally scored a beautiful dunk against the racists, who unfortunately are always active. Under the basket, but not only.