The championship ended on Saturday 29th June European Under 23 Of wheelchair basketball With the’Italia by coach Fabio Castellucci who achieved a fourth place which means qualification for the Junior World Championships next year, a goal that had been missing since 2017.
The Italian national team, composed of ten twelfths of athletes at their first international experience, surrendered in the semi-final only to the superpower Great Britain, before losing the bronze medal match against Turkey 67 to 56, despite a beautiful comeback attempted in the second half and failed only in the final.
The Italians had finished the group in fourth place, thanks to the beautiful and clear victories against Israel in their debut (65-40), the hosts Spain (78 to 41) and against Poland (83 to 36); already in the first part of the tournament, however, coach Castellucci’s Under team had shown that they could hold their own even against the big favorites on the eve, losing against Turkey (47-59), Germany (41-61), but remaining in the game until the end, and then above all by taking Great Britain to overtime in the last match of the group, which they then lost by a narrow score of 63 to 67.
In the semi-final on Friday 28 March, Italy was once again opposed to Great Britain, who prevailed 68 to 48, with a margin however inflated only by the partial suffered by the Azzurrini in the last quarter; finally the final for the bronze against Turkey, lost 56 to 67, despite a hearty comeback that had brought the Azzurrini to just two possessions away in the final period, after having been down by even 20.
But the latest defeat does not stain the result obtained by a group with a particularly low average age and with a potential still unexplored, as confirmed by the coach Fabio Castellucci at the end of the tournament: “I’m happy to have seen a real team, capable of reacting to moments of difficulty and growing game after game. We played an excellent European Championship and I am convinced that the future will give us further satisfaction”.
on the cover Gabriel Da Silva Pelizari against Turkey
2024-06-30 06:33:23
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