Italy mourn after death of young player

VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - To have died doing what he loved will be of some comfort for the family and friends of Eugenio Rossetti.

The 16-year-old, rushed to a Brescia hospital on Monday in a critical condition after playing in an U20 league basketball game for Basket Trieste, passed away on Tuesday afternoon.

Rossetti was a bright talent and was competing for the Trieste youth team against MBB Brescia in Mazzano when he felt chest pain and left the court. He passed out on the bench and then fell unconscious.

Attempts by the medical staff at a Brescia hospital to save him were unsuccessful.

The Italian Basketball Federation (FIP) has announced that a minute of silence will be observed on all basketball courts in Italy this weekend in memory of Rossetti.

Pallacanestro Trieste, a team in the Italian second division, have said in a statement: "Eugenio had only joined our Basket Trieste roster a few months ago with the aim of obtaining a place on our bench.

"Pallacanestro Trieste expresses its condolences to the family and to the players of Basket Trieste. We will find together a way to honor the memory, the joy, the love of sport and the will to excel of a young athlete who was a lover of Trieste Basketball."

The Italian Basketball Federation (FIP), through its president Giovanni Petrucci, has sent its condolences to the Rossetti family in the name of Italian Basketball.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

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