FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup: Mascolo's Italy reaches the quarter-finals
Great satisfaction for Bruno Mascolo, involved with Italy at the FIBA 3X3 U23 World Cup which is being held in Lanzhou, China. Bertram Derthona's playmaker, together with his teammates Leonardo Totè (VL Pesaro), Giorgio Di Bonaventura and Carlo Fumagalli (NPC Rieti) achieved qualification for the quarter-finals of the event: the opponent will be the strong Russia - Reigning World Champion – in the challenge scheduled for Sunday 6 October 2019 at 7.00 (Italian time).
The Azzurri, included in Group C of the World Cup, closed the first phase of the competition with a record of three victories and only one defeat, which came in the opening match against Brazil (16-13). In the following three matches Mascolo and his teammates got the better of Qatar (17-14), Kyrgyzstan (22-4) and Ukraine - which finished the group in first place - 21-18 respectively in what was proved to be the decisive match for access to the knockout phase of the World Cup.
The Juventus player was among the protagonists of the four matches played by Italy so far, finishing with 20 total points scored, making him the thirteenth best scorer of the event.
ʺAccess the quarter-finals of the World Cup wearing your country's shirt – comments Bruno Mascolo – it's a beautiful feeling. We have grown a lot as a team over the four matches played so far in the tournament: now that we play more as a team we are difficult to beat anyone. We will prepare as best we can for the match against Russia, which is a very strong teamʺ.
