World Basketball Qualifiers: Italy refuses to play with Russia

Mario Canfora – Elisabetta Esposito

April 1
– Rome

Take a place. Make strong and uncomfortable choices to clearly show the world what side you are on. For this reason, Federbasket, with the full support of Coni, has decided that the Italian national team will not enter the field against Russia in the 2023 World Cup qualifying match that will take place on July 1 in Italy. This is the first refusal to stand up to Russia, and thus in defense of Ukraine, for Italian sport.

Confirm

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The confirmation came from Coni president Giovanni Malaggi on the sidelines of the Coni National Council: “Italy has decided that it will not play, and in this Coni is 100% on the side of the Federation. And also Iceland and the Netherlands, which are part of our same group. We are very sorry for the choice of Fiba, we do not understand That. So what about FIFA who knocked out the teams from morning to evening? The IOC was very clear, only basketball and biathlon followed the instructions.”

petrucci’s anger

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In fact, Fiba has not yet excluded the Russian team from the competitions, a circumstance that in recent days has already caused thunder to Federbasket President Gianni Petrucci, which determined the “desire to keep pending the assessment of Pilate”. On the refusal, Petrucci defines the decision as “logical and necessary in the face of the insensitivity of the FIBA ​​we have seen. We cannot believe that everything that has happened will fade away like this. Of course, the war will end, but death can never be forgotten. Sport is not empty From the society around us, the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee are moral obligations. And if the highest organization points to a line, how can it not respect it? I also warned the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Sports Vezzali, who shares our selection. It is clear that the Russian players are not responsible, they are colleagues like us, but a decision Similar was also taken by the Dutch Iceland. It was unreasonable to organize a match against Russia so easily. We should have played in Pesaro: we are sorry for the city, but it will have other opportunities as soon as possible to host the national team, our calendar is very busy. ”