Marco Bonitta had a tough task to select the players that will compete at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo, Japan, May 13, 2016 – Marco Bonitta made some tough decisions on the final line-up of the Italian squad that will compete at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament, starting May 14, Saturday.
The Italians will try to reach the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but needs to overcome seven other squads vying for the three available Olympic qualification tickets. Their first obstacle is to face Asian side Korea led by superstar Kim Yeon-Koung.
After their last training session at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, coach Marco Bonitta shared his thoughts on the importance of the tournament, as well as how he selected the players for the tournament.
“This tournament is important because this is our last chance to qualify to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games,” Bonitta said. “At the same time, this is a technically atypical tournament, because there are four European teams, two Asian teams, one South American team and one North American team. I had to evaluate the players available from a psycho-physical point of view and from what we need to do on the court because we will be facing tough teams, especially the Asian sides.
“We only had a few days to prepare for this tournament and we have to take into consideration the condition of each player. So I had to bring 15 players with me, with the support of our federation. There were many factors that I considered when I chose the players. So there are technical reasons why I leave some of my players behind.”
All coaches go through this phase in every tournament, going through a difficult situation of finding a winning combination of players. Coach Marco Bonitta was no exception.
“I have to trust my gut and rely on how we prepared in Milan and this week in Japan,” Bonitta said. “I am convinced that this is technically the best team that can deal with the pressure in this tournament.”