ROMA (ITALPRESS) – “Sport can be a health and wellness factor of people just as paragraph 7 of Article 33 of the Constitution states. This initiative deserves all our support, we are in a place where there is also pain, discomfort and suffering, but where we must also bring a word of hope and the perspective that motor activity can bring benefit to the physicist of people of all ages.” With these words, the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, spoke today at the University Policlinico Agostino Gemelli IRCCS in Rome for the Trophy Tour 2025/2026, which exhibited exclusively in the Hall the trophies of international tennis teams, Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. Submitted into the social project “We don’t leave anyone alone”, promoted by the Giuseppe Toniolo Institute and by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, in collaboration with Tennis and Friends-Salute and Sport, Federazione Italiana Tennis e Padel (FITP) and International Tennis Federation and Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli, the initiative allowed patients and their family to admire the Coppe conquered last year.
At the ceremony, conducted by journalists Rai, Eleonora Daniele and Marzia Roncacci, and by Giorgio Spalluto, journalist of Super Tennis, took part in the captain of the Women’s National Tathiana Garbin, the general manager of ASL RM1, Giuseppe Quintavalle, the dg of Fitp Marco Martinasso, the president of the Political Foundation Gemelli, Daniele Franco, the vice president Giuseppe Fioroni, the scientific director Daniele Piacliini.
It was not missed the moving memory of a protagonist of Italian tennis recently disappeared: Nicola Pietrangeli, captain of the team who won the Davis Cup in 1976 and honorary president since the beginning of Tennis and Friends. The heart of the event was the passage of Coppes in medical oncology departments, pediatric oncology and child neurosurgery, general pediatrics, pediatric Nemo center and child neuropsychiatry, for the project “Tennis and Friends in Corsia”, promoted by Tennis and Friends and aimed at bringing sports and its values in health facilities to meet patients and especially children in hospitals and their families.
For both children and adults, it was the opportunity to see the Coppe closely and play with the instructors of the Federation who set up the tennis nets along the corridors, to spend a moment of serenity full of meaning.
“The presence of the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup at the Policlinico Gemelli has represented, in these days, a concrete sign of attention and closeness to our hospital community. Not only a symbol of great sports successes, but a message of strength, trust and shared responsibility, able to speak to patients, families and health workers”, said Daniele Franco. Giuseppe Fioroni for his part stressed that “we chose to support the project ‘We leave no one only’ because just like these two great trophies, the Toniolo Institute, the Catholic University and the Policlinico Gemelli represent excellence in the world. In addition to the technique, science and the ability to diagnose and cure in the hospital, what makes the difference is the smile, the look towards those who suffer and the approach to the patient who expects to be treated. Being close to the sick so that they do not feel alone, creating opportunities to make them feel still inserted in that daily life that the disease inevitably subtracts, is our ethical imperative.”.
“Initiatives like this bear witness to the value of an alliance between health, academic world and sport, capable of bringing a concrete message of closeness to patients, families and the whole hospital community and reminds us of the importance of facing the challenges that life poses with determination, hope and counting on our community of relationships, as they have shown to be able to do our athletes in recent years,” said Daniele Piacentini.
“Report Tennis and Friends to Corsia to Policlinico Gemelli, where fifteen years ago our project was born, has a deep meaning for me. As a doctor, I am convinced that the cure cannot be limited to only clinical protocol, but it must embrace the patient’s emotional sphere. Seeing our federal champions and instructors entering the wards and exchange a ball with children or with those facing a difficult moment, means breaking the walls of isolation that the disease often imposes – commented Giorgio Meneschincheri – Bringing the world trophies and the game of tennis among the corridors of the hospital is our way of saying ‘you are not alone’: sport thus becomes a therapy of smile and a powerful message of hope, strength and resilience for the whole hospital community.”.
He was not present but sent his message Angelo Binaghi, President Fitp: “Bring the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup in a place of care as the Gemelli means giving an even deeper sense to these victories. Italian tennis has also grown because it has been able to put people in the center, not only the results. Initiatives like this tell what it is to give back to the country, and in particular to the most fragile, a part of the joy and energy that sport can generate.”.
“The tennis and health run on the same track: The team game. Just like the successes in the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup were born from the strength of the group, so in the lanes of medical hospitals and researchers work together to win the most valuable match: life. Supporting these initiatives means giving a smile and reminding everyone that, remaining together, we are stronger than any challenge,” said Captain Tatiana Garbin.
Finally, Giuseppe Quintavalle stressed the high value of the Trophy Tour stop at Policlinico Gemelli and announced “the imminent activation of new diagnostic-therapeutic paths in collaboration with the Gemini to promote primary prevention through screening and healthy lifestyles”.
– Policlinico Gemelli print office photos –
(ITALPRESS).
