Italy’s rocket start at Pre-Olympic, Bahrain overwhelmed: Gianmarco Pozzecco looks ahead with confidence

Good first for Italbasket at Pre-Olympic

Italy's Pre-Olympic tournament begins in the best possible way, respecting the odds and overwhelming Bahrain at the Coliseo de San Juan in the opener with a score of 114-53, in a game without a story from the first minutes.

In the first quarter, the Arab national team tried to hold its own against the Azzurri, who ended the first quarter leading by 10 points thanks to baskets by Melli, Abass and Gallinari. In the second quarter, Italy continues to command operations and goes to halftime up by 22 at 47-25.

In the third quarter, the gap widens even more until it reaches +34 and at that point Gianmarco Pozzecco decides to widen the rotations to preserve the starters. In the fourth period, the Italian national team climbs above 100 points and closes the score at 114-53. The +61 è the biggest gap ever recorded by a national team in a Pre-Olympic tournament. For the Azzurri it is the fourth largest gap ever inflicted on an opponent after +79 in 1976 (vs. Ireland), +66 in 1987 (vs. Switzerland) and +64 (vs. Georgia) in 2005.

“At’the beginning of the match I was a little bit nervous because’ we were not playing well, which we then started to do. We have great respect for all the opponents we face and that was the case again tonight è. Happy that the boys played for 40 minutes with aggressiveness; putting pressure and doing exactly what we had prepared. Now we look forward with confidence and think about Puerto Rico. We are here for a dream and we want to achieve it" these are the statements of Gianmarco Pozzecco at the end of the meeting.

The Azzurri will return to the court on Thursday, July 4 at 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 a.m. July 5 in Italy, live DAZN, Sky Sport Max, Now) to face the hosts Puerto Rico.