ROME (ITALPRESS) – “More than new ideas, the national team needs results. All sports need reforms, even those that win, because it’s not that you win forever. We will have to try to win some medals with the national team, those are missing and are the most important thing. There are no Champions Cups or Super Leagues, there is only the blue jersey at the Olympic level. To have national team players, we have two private leagues like NBA and Euroleague that do not send us players. This is not meant to be an excuse, but it is a reality.” Thus Giovanni Petrucci, newly re-elected president of Federbasket, host of ‘Radio Anch’iò Sport on Rai Radio 1, on his plans for his sixth term as Fip number one the fourth consecutive. How the mechanism should be changed in order to succeed in getting the national team players involved is quickly said, “Getting the Italians to play. But the Federation has no power over this. The Federation can incite, but it cannot impose, because then it is the others who put the money in.” “We have a healthy Federation today, restarting a four-year term with an elderly man like me,” the Fip number one continued, “Yes, I am elderly and I am proud of my wrinkles, my years and the good Lord who gave me the good fortune and the strength to get where I am. Then it’s not like there are all these youngsters in the world who are better than others. You have to have ideas and skills. If I was confirmed with an overwhelming 70-71 percent majority, it means that they still think I can talk, breathe and do analysis.” Petrucci already knows how to give depth to the national team ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics: “We have an extraordinary technical sector with an organization headed by Gigi Datome, our pride. He represents the present and future of Italian basketball. We are touring Italy to find talent and we are succeeding. We are also working to find some players from abroad to naturalize. There is some negotiation, let’s see how and if it will go through.” As for the future president of CONI, “everyone knows that I am for Malagò. For me he will be confirmed, I have this feeling. I wonder: why can the CIP (Italian Paralympic Committee, ed.), egregiously chaired by Pancalli, have four mandates and the Coni only three? No one can answer this question. By the way, Coni and Cip are going to elections on the same day, June 26. Why in favor of Malagò? Because I respect him, he is a hard worker who has led Italian sports to outstanding results. We have always been among the top 8-10 countries in the world at the Olympics, but this year we have confirmed this great result. I should also be jealous, because Malagò would reach 14 years of my presidency. Joking aside, he would deserve reappointment, also because, if we want to talk about successors, I don’t see any Churchill.” Petrucci, finally, dwells on the rumors of the Nba-Fiba Agreement to create a new league in place of the Euroleague: “There are some ideas, nothing concrete, but we are in the initial stages. There is this attempt to try to bring our Euroleague closer to Fiba. Remote possibility, but it’s there.”- Photo Image -(ITALPRESS).
