Italian basketball team left with 1 player on court and forced to forfeit European game

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MIES, Switzerland (AP) — An Italian basketball team was left with just one player on court during a European game on Tuesday, leading to an automatic loss and elimination from the competition.

Trapani Shark, which is reportedly experiencing financial problems, turned up for a playoff game against Israeli opponent Hapoel Netanel Holon in Bulgaria in the FIBA Champions League with only five players, and two of them were making their professional debuts.

It is not known why but three players reportedly stopped playing during the first quarter and when a fourth player was fouled out with around three minutes remaining of the quarter, the match had to be stopped because Trapani had “fewer than two players on the court ready to play,” competition organizers said in a statement.

Holon was leading 38-5 at the time.

It was Game 1 of the competition’s “play-ins” to get to the round of 16. Its rules say “a club that loses any game by forfeit or by default in the play-ins and the playoffs shall lose the series” so Holon advanced.

Trapani’s future is shrouded in uncertainty and the club said it only participated in the match to avoid a “draconian” fine of 600,000 euros ($700,000).

Trapani has been fined and placed under sanctions by the Italian Basketball Federation this season. On Sunday, the team decided not to play a league match against Virtus Segafredo.

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