{:en}Press Release (22 11 2017)
Exciting opening ceremony and Australian surprise in men's tournament losing by only one point to Portugal seeded for the Championships
Important week at Loano that sees itself the stage for the World Basketball Championship for athletes with intellectual-relational disabilities.
Yesterday, Nov. 21, the opening ceremony was held at the Sports Hall during which the approximately 150 athletes from the teams of the six participating nations paraded to the great cheering of the stands packed with students from the Falcone Institute.
The morning featured various speeches alternating with performances by the Finale dance school, the cheerleading group from Genoa, and the wonderful voice of Giulia Senatore. The ceremony ended with the official opening of the Championships by Councillor Remo Zaccaria.
The event will run until Saturday, Nov. 25.The contenders for the world title are the top six men's and women's teams in the movement:, Australia, Egypt, France, Japan, Poland and Portugal.
The competitions got off to an enthusiastic start on Nov. 21 at 4 p.m. with Poland and France, succeeded by Portugal vs. Egypt and the Australian women's teams; enthusiasm that accompanied the national teams even during the second day of competition on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
In the morning Australia beat France in the first fierce contest that ended by a single point margin, and in the second contest the overseas representative went up against the second compatriot team, winning an easy game with large point spread.
. In the afternoon, the stands were filled for Japan's thrilling match against France followed by Portugal against Australia: the challenges were narrowly won by France and Portugal. Both matches were tense and saw the teams alternating in the lead as they repeatedly overtook each other. To be noted the great agonism and intensity, even physical, in the confrontations that, however, never bordered on lack of fairness and was well handled by the Referees of the Italian National Federation. Portugal, third in the world ranking, struggled not a little to get the better of the Australian representative, the true revelation of the tournament.
Bold and enthusiastic boys who compete to win and from whom we can infer a great team spirit and who will surely amaze us in the coming days with splendid results.
Great expectations are high for tomorrow's men's tournament confrontations between the teams of Japan and Poland and Egypt vs. Australia at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. Highly anticipated is the confrontation between France and Australia at 10 a.m. for the leadership of the women's tournament{:}
{:en}World Basketball Championships INAS{:}
