Local international basketball referee, Bernard Vassallo, was handed another official nomination by FIBA, following full tournaments in Scotland and Gibraltar in June and the Under 20 European Men Championships in Romania last month.

He is now officiating the European Division A Women’s national team qualifier between Italy and Poland to be played in Bologna, Italy, today.

This game, to be screened direct on RaiSportPiu, is valid for Group B, consisting of five nations, where Turkey are the present leaders, with four straight wins, after the first round of games. Poland, having three wins, lies second with Italy behind having two wins.

Two weeks ago, the Poles had beaten Italy 63-59 in Gdansk in the first round of division A and next Saturday’s game in Bologna looks to be the deciding match as to who will join Turkey as direct qualifiers to next year’s Europeans to be held in Latvia.

In the meantime, the other local international referee, Gordon Barbara, will be controlling the women division B game between Ireland and Iceland to be played in Dublin on 6 September. The division B competition will be commencing soon.