ITA - Important games in Korea for Italy

SEOUL (FIBA World Championship) - Italy’s final warm-up games for the FIBA World Championship are against Turkey and Korea in Seoul and in Azzurri coach Carlo Recalcati’s opinion, they are vital.

Recalcati, who is preparing a very young side for Group D action in Sapporo, is especially looking forward to the clash with Turkey.

They, like Italy, received a wild-card to play in the 24-team World Championship in Japan.

"They are two important chances for us to grow as a team," Recalcati said on the Italian federation’s official website.

"We have accepted to come (to Seoul) so we can recover as soon as possible from the change in time zones.

"From the technical point of view, like in Berlin, we will take the preparation in mind but also go for the result."

Indeed, the results were very important in Germany as the Italians arrived for the Supercup on the back of five friendly defeats.

Victories over France and then Germany raised morale in the team.

Turkey also claimed a win over France in Berlin and are showing signs they could advance from Group C to the eight-finals at the FIBA World Championship.

"Turkey have been improving in these last few days," Recalcati said.

"They are a gifted team, are very competitive and have integrated the under-20s into their team (Ersan Iliasova, Cenk Akyol, Erden Semih, Oguz Savaz e Demirel Han) who finished second in the European Championships in that category two weeks ago and will freshen the team up."

Italy squad: Marco Belinelli, Gianluca Basile, Stefano Mancinelli, Matteo Soragna, Denis Marconato, Marco Mordente, Andrea Pecile, Andrea Michelori, Richard Mason Rocca, Fabio Di Bella, Luca Garri, Angelo Gigli.

By PA Sport
Exclusively for FIBA