The wait is over. Italy begins today, Tuesday 2 July, its adventure at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024, the only and final access route to the Olympic Games in Paris.
The first opponent is Bahrain, a team currently ranked 67th in the FIBA rankings. For the Azzurri, it will be the first time ever against the Asians, who arrived in Puerto Rico with 11 players. Among them, the naturalized American Wayne Devon Chism stands out. Devon Dwayne Lamont “Wayne” Chism, born in Jackson, Tennessee, is the classic globetrotter who has been through Turkey, Hungary, France, the Philippines, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, a country of which he later took citizenship. He was Bahrain’s top scorer in the first two qualifying games for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025. Eyes are also on Muzamil Ameer Hamooda. For the red and whites, one win (70-64 against UAE) and one loss (63-94 against Lebanon) in Group F. The coach is Jad El Hajj, on the bench of Lebanon at the World Cup in the Philippines (23rd place).
Thus the CT Gianmarco Pozzecco on the eve: “The rules in our group are few and very clear. First of all, tolerance. Only by helping each other can we overcome difficulties by going beyond our limits. Although the roster is very different from last year’s, the team immediately understood the importance of taking something away on an individual level to make it available to the collective. The boys have fun, they play with a clear head and with the fierce commitment that this Jersey requires. Bahrain, Puerto Rico and all the other teams that may follow are just part of a path that we want to take step by step with the awareness that what we have built will help us to face the obstacles and try to deserve a historic achievement”.
The first match of Group A between Lithuania and Mexico is also scheduled for July 2. The Lithuanians, led by Domantas Sabonis but without Jonas Valanciunas, face Mexico. Ivory Coast (Group A) and Puerto Rico (Group B) do not play.
The San Juan Pre-Olympic Tournament will see six teams divided into two groups of three teams each competing in a round-robin format with one-way matches: the first-place team in each group will play the second-place team in the other group. The teams that advance play the final. The winner will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The Azzurri have been drawn in Group B with Bahrain and Puerto Rico. Group A includes Lithuania, Mexico and Ivory Coast. The Azzurri will make their debut against Bahrain on Tuesday 2 July (11:30 p.m. Italian time live on DAZN, Sky Sport and Now). Two days later, on Thursday 4 July (5 July in Italy, 2:30 a.m. live on DAZN, Sky Sport and Now), they will face the home team “Boricuas”. The semi-finals will be played on Saturday 6 July, starting at 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Italian time live on DAZN, Sky Sport and Now), while the final is scheduled for Sunday 7 July (8 July in Italy at 00:00 a.m. live on DAZN, Sky Sport and Now).
The other Pre-Olympic tournaments are played in Valencia, Spain (Lebanon, Angola, Spain and Finland, Poland, Bahamas), Athens, Greece (Slovenia, New Zealand, Croatia and Greece, Egypt, Dominican Republic), Riga, Latvia (Georgia, Philippines, Latvia and Brazil, Cameroon, Montenegro).
