Luca Banchi’s list of players called up for the 2027 Basketball World Cup qualifiers opens with a name that weighs more than the others: Achille Polonara. Not for a decisive basket, nor for an epic performance, but for a gesture that speaks to the heart. The Marche winger will not be able to be on the pitch, and no one knows when (or if) he will be able to play again, but the coach has decided that he will still remain the team captain. A choice that sounds like a collective embrace, a clear stance: Polonara is there, even if his physique today imposes distances on him that he would never have imagined.
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A captain who fights off the court
After the diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, Achille faced a complex course of chemotherapy culminating in a bone marrow transplant. Here, however, something went wrong: a blood clot had deprived the brain of oxygen. His story was told in an intense report by The Hyenasin which the athlete recalled without filters the hardest days in which he ended up in a coma and they told him that 90% of the time he would die.
Upon awakening, the situation remained critical: neurological compromises, difficulty speaking, unknowns about any permanent damage. Today Polonara is facing a difficult rehabilitation, with irregular progress and periods of profound tiredness. Mobility has not yet fully returned and doctors ask for caution. In the television report he himself explained that he is experiencing a sort of daily reconstruction, including visits, physiotherapy and a gradual return to life outside the hospital.
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Polonara remains the soul of Italbasket, despite everything
But precisely for this reason the call-up takes on a special value: it is not just a formality, it is a human recognition even before a sporting one. Confirming him as captain, despite knowing that he won’t be able to join his teammates in the pre-match or raise his voice in an agitated locker room, is a strong message. A way of saying that belonging and leadership are not measured in minutes played, but in the weight of stories and the value of example.
Polonara remains part of Italbasket, even if the parquet is not an option for now. The federation did not want to cut him out of the group, despite everything and – above all – to give him morale in this new challenge away from the basket. And this is a gesture that touches the most intimate strings of our hearts for all of us, enthusiasts and otherwise.
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