World basketball qualifiers: Italy refuses to play with Russia

This was announced by the president of Coni, he should have played in July in Pesaro. Unlike football, Fiba has not yet made a decision regarding the ouster of the Russians. Petrucci, n ° 1 Fip: “One cannot think that everything that has happened will vanish like this. Sure, the war will end, but deaths can never be forgotten ”

Mario Canfora-Elisabetta Esposito

April 1st
– roma–

Take position. Making strong and uncomfortable choices to show the world clearly which side you are on. For this reason, Federbasket, with the full support of Coni, has decided that the Italian national team will not take the field against Russia in the qualifying match for the 2023 World Cup which should be played on 1 July in Italy. This is the first refusal to face Russia, and therefore in defense of Ukraine, of Italian sport.

–

Confirmation

—

The confirmation came from the president of Coni Giovanni Malagò on the sidelines of the Coni national council: “Italy has decided that it will not play, in this the Coni is 100% on the side of the Federation. And so will Iceland and the Netherlands, which are part of our same group. We are very sorry for the choice of Fiba, we do not understand it. So what about the Fifa that ousted teams from morning to night? The IOC was very clear, only basketball and biathlon did not follow the directions “.

–

the wrath of petrucci

—

In fact, Fiba has not yet excluded the Russian team from competitions, a circumstance that in recent days had already caused the president of Federbasket Gianni Petrucci to thunder, who had defined “the desire to keep the Pilate evaluation still pending”. ‘formalization today of the refusal, Petrucci defines the decision “logical and necessary in the face of an insensitivity of the FIBA ​​that we have seen. We cannot think that everything that has happened will vanish like this. Of course, the war will end, but deaths cannot be never forget. Sport is not free from the society around us, the recommendations of the IOC are moral obligations. And if the highest organization indicates a line, how can you not respect it? I also warned Undersecretary for Sport Vezzali who shares our choice. Obviously the Russian players have no responsibility, they are colleagues like ours, but a similar decision was also taken by Iceland and Holland. It was unthinkable to organize a match against Russia with ease. 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 “.

–