ITA - Dotto ready for U19 Women experience

ROME (FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - A year after winning the U18 European Championship for Women, Italy's junior women's national team will face a bigger challenge at the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women which gets underway in Chile in just over two weeks time.

Giovanni Lucchesi's team will open its campaign in Group A of the Preliminary Round, taking on Canada, China and Egypt as they try to repeat the magic of Slovakia 2010, when the azzurre squad closed the European Championship undefeated with a 66-61 win over Spain in the gold medal game.

“Last year's triumph showed us how hard work can pay off,” said point guard Francesca Dotto, one of the team's spiritual leaders.
 
“We built this group of players three years ago, when we won the silver medal at the U16 European Championship in Katowice, and then we grew together."

Dotto knows all too well the importance of sharing both responsibilities but also emotions as her basketball career started with her twin sister Caterina, who also played for the youth national teams.

“It was a daily challenge, as we were both very competitive," the 18-year-old recalled. "She has been the most important person for my career."

After winning youth titles with her club of San Martino di Lupari and playing for College Italia - along with fellow U19 team-mates Lucia Di Costanzo, Marta Masoni and Giovanna Pertile - in Italy's A2 women's league, Dotto could have the most important moment of her career in Chile.

“It's going to be a learning experience, as we know the European opponents, but we don't know the other teams," she explained.

"We will be able to prove our level of competition. I hope we will play against the USA, who should be the toughest team.

"But no matter what happens, we'll never give up. Determination is our strength."

However, it won't be the first world challenge for Dotto, who played in last year's 3-on-3 tournament at Singapore's youth Olympic games.

“It was a wonderful experience, it was the realisation of a dream," she recalled.

Asked what she has in mind for the future, Dotto has a pretty interesting list.

“My future goals? The Under 19 World Championship come for first. Then I hope I will play on an A1 team, then become a WNBA player, and play at the Olympic games," she said.

"And the last goal is the toughest one: to be able to dunk..."

FIBA