Italy Team is back in town
The NBA finals recently ended in the United States with the Lakers – and Kobe Bryant – beating the Boston Celtics… an amazing game! And in Italy we have to settle for something less. But the return of the national basketball team to Florence is an important event for this city that leaves and breathes soccer. After five years with Cesare Prandelli as its coach Fiorentina has hired Sinisa Mihajlovic of Serbia to put the team back among the top four Italian soccer teams – where it was during the first four years of Prandelli’s coaching.
Florence hasn’t hosted the basketball “Azzurri” for 13 years.
The Italian team currently has two American stars: Marco Belinelli of Bologna, shooting guard for the Toronto Raptors and Rome born Andrea Bargnani, power forward/center who also plays for the Raptors. So, we’re not that bad even if one team, Montepaschi Siena coached by Pianigian, who is also in charge of the national “Azzurri”, has won the championship four years straight.
The three-day event (from 16 to 18 July) will be held at Pala Mandela with the Macedonian, Polish and Bulgarian national teams. This will be the only test before the qualifying matches for Eurobasket 2011. The three Eastern European teams will also play in the European games, but in different groups, so it’s going to be an important round of matches for them too.
The Italian team will train at Bormio (Sondrio) from 29 June to 11 July before arriving in Florence – the last time it played here was an All Star Game in 1997, and before that in a 1985 tournament.
Here is the calendar for the three days in Florence:
16 July:
Poland – Bulgaria, 6:00 p.m.
Italy – Macedonia 8:30 p.m.
17 July:
Macedonia-Bulgaria 6:00 p.m.
Italy – Poland 8:30 p.m.
18 July:
Macedonia – Poland 6:00 p.m.
Italy – Bulgaria 8:30 p.m.
Ticket prices for the ” Trofeo Nelson Mandela Forum”
Settore 1 Euro 25 + 3 advance sale fee
Settore 2 Euro 14 + 3 advance sale fee
Reduced tickets :
There are special reduced prices for: children under 14, FIB members and groups of at least 10 persons.
Settore 1:
Under 14 Euro 20 + 3 advance sale fee
FIP members: Euro 23 + 3.40 advanced sale fee
Groups (at least 10 persons) Euro 20 + 3 advance sale fee.
Settore 2:
Under 14: Euro 11 + 3 advance sale fee
FIP members 12 + 1.50 advance sale fee
Groups (at least 10 persons) Euro 11 + 1.50 advance sale fee.
Subscriptions:
Subscriptions are available to watch 2 games in one day or all six games:
Settore 1: Euro 38 + 5 advance sale fee
Settore 2: Euro 20 + 3 advance sale fee
6-game subscription prices:
Settore 1 Euro 102 +15 advance sale fee
Settore 2: Euro 57 + 9 advance sale fee.
You can purchase tickets from the Circuito Box Office ( www.boxol.it).
Games on TV
And you can also watch the most important basketball games on the RAI Sport TV channel; here are the times:
7 July: Bormio: Italy – Jordan – game time 6:00 p.m. (broadcast at 8:30 p.m.)
9 July: Bormio: Italy – Hungary, 8:03 p.m., live
11 July: Bormio: Italy – Iran 6:00 p.m., live
16 July. Florence: Italy – Macedonia – game time 8:30 p.m. (broadcast at 11:30 p.m.)
17 July: Florence: Italy – Poland, 8:30 p.m., live
18 July: Florence: Italy – Bulgaria, 8:30 p.m., live
24 July: Porec (Croatia) : Croatia – Italy
25 July: Porec (Croatia) : Croatia – Italy
2 August: Bari Qualification Round: Italy – Israel, 8:30 p.m., live
5 August: Latvia (place to be announced) Qualification Round: Latvia – Italy
8 August: Bari: Qualification Round: Italy – Finland, 8:30 p.m., live
11 August: Montenegro (place to be announced):Qualification Round: Montenegro – Italy
17 August: Israel (place to be announced) Qualification Round: Israel – Italy
20 August: Bari: Qualification Round Italy – Latvia, 8:30 p.m., live
23 August: Vantaa: Qualification Round: Finland – Italy
26 August: Bari Qualification Round: Italy – Montenegro, 8:30 p.m., live.
Other news and events
Recently, Florentine Deputy Mayor and Commissioner for Sports Dario Nardella and Massimo Gramigni, chairman of the Nelson Mandela Forum, unveiled the new air-conditioning system at the Campo di Marte facility here in Florence. The system will keep the indoor temperature about 6° C, lower than outdoors.
The municipal government allocated 730,000 euro to build this system that went into service for the World League volleyball game between Italy and Serbia on Sunday, 20 June played for 3,500 enthusiastic spectators. Italy won 3-2 but is still one point behind Serbia.
Spectator comfort was not the only reason for installing the system: there was the much more serious problem of condensate forming on the hardwood floor that is a huge hazard for players. Furthermore, the regulations established by the international sports authorities also require air-conditioning in summer. Florence complied and this way will be able to host important sports and cultural events, and shows.
Let’s take a look at what will be happening after the July basketball games. Florence will host the world volleyball championships in October. But before that, in September down in Melbourne the decision will be made as to whether Florence will be the venue for the 2013 international bicycling champions. The finish line for all 12 of the races will be on Viale Paoli, while the Mandela Forum will be the event’s media-center.
Although 20 June was a memorable day for Italian volleyball in Florence, it was not so good for women’s water polo: Waterpolo Giotti of Florence played the decisive game for the cup against their eternal rivals Orizzonti Catania, and were winning 9-6 in the last quarter. They were already thinking about sewing the new patches on their jerseys when the team, coached by former Olympic champion Gianni de Magistris, took four goals and had to settle for second place.
