Fortitudo-Rimini challenge postponed due to the death of Pope Francis

Everything postponed for 48 hours. The sudden disappearance of Pope Francesco In addition to leaving an unfillable void in all the faithful, it also brought the entire world of sport to a standstill.

The match that was initially scheduled for yesterday at the PalaDozza between Fortitude e Rimini and that, pending official confirmation from the Italian Basketball Federation scheduled for today, will be recovered tomorrow evening, starting at 20,30 pm.

The death of the Holy Father has convinced the FIP - like other federations, moreover, also stopping football and baseball - to postpone all official matches scheduled for yesterday, while it seems obvious that, in all sporting events scheduled in the coming days, a minute of silence will be observed to remember Pope Francis.

Tomorrow Fortitudo Flats Service and Rimini on the field to face each other on the penultimate day of A2 series. An almost obligatory choice that of tomorrow's date also to avoid the coincidence of the return leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final between Bologna and Empoli (Thursday) and the celebrations of April 25th.

Furthermore, on Sunday, the last match of the regular season will be played simultaneously on all the fields, which will ultimately decide the official ranking of playoff and play-in. With the results of Saturday's challenges, tomorrow's match takes on a particular importance since it would allow Effe to regain seventh place, the last one for access to the direct playoffs without going through the Caudine Forks of the play-in.

From a certain point of view, yesterday's postponement allows coach Attilio Caja to put a little more fuel in his team's engine, allowing Luca Vencato to have a couple of training sessions available before returning to the field and a couple more days perhaps to improve Pietro Aradori's condition.

In any case, the ranking of Fortitudo and Rimini, second with +2 on Cantù, but at a disadvantage in the direct clashes with the Brianza team, will be decided between tomorrow and Sunday. For Effe, the final obstacle will be that of Livorno facing Libertas, in that Modigliani Forum where the season of the Eagle had begun with the triumph in the Super Cup, but that was a completely different story and a different Fortitudo.

The other matches: Cividale-Cento 83-75. Urania Milano-Livorno 84-94, Nardò-Orzinuovi 103-83, Pesaro-Udine 82-84, Avellino-Cantù 76-82, Rieti-Juvi Cremona 69-67, Turin-Piacenza 93-83, Vigevano-Verona 94-90, Forlì-Brindisi 78-70.

The ranking: Udine 58; Rimini 50; Cantù 48; Forlì 46; Rieti and Cividale 44; Verona 42; Fortitudo Flats Service Bologna; Milan and Turin 40; Avellino, Pesaro and Brindisi 38; Orzinuovi 32; Cento 28; Libertas Livorno and Cremona 26; Vigevano 24; Nardò 22; Piacenza 14.