Paul Biligha: “Now the thing is to make one final four with Olimpia Milano and dreaming Olympics next year”.
Italian with some Cameroon roots, Paul Biligha grew a lot as a player during the last seasons. Step by step the former U20 national team conquered the Italian league and FIBA Europe Cup with Umana Venezia before bein enrolled by the Euroleague powerhouse, Olimpia Armani Milano.
1. You spent a part of your childhood in Cameroon (from 8 to 16 years old), where you started to play basketball. Describe that experience. How is basketball there?
Basketball in Cameroon is a lot of fun, you play outdoor all day long (rain or sun sometimes doesn’t change), the strange thing is, you find the best court to play outdoor inside the church property so you can’t play when they celebrate mass so you have to play at noon or late in the night.
2. You played with the Italian national team at U20 at FIBA Eurobasket and then later with the senior Italian national team. How was the transition from the junior to a senior level?
It’s another world, junior-level the physicality is not so high but on Senior level things start to be hard, imagine how many times you have to play against Marjanovic and after Gobert or Gasol in international or European games men sometimes I want to go back on the junior-level so easy hahaha.
3. What do you like to achieve most in your career?
Now the thing is to make one final four with Olimpia Milano and dreaming Olympics next year.
4. Olimpia Milano was trying hard to build a strong team able to reach a Final 4 of the Euroleague these seasons. What are the chances for them to play a Final this season or the next ones?
We have a very high chance the team need just to knowledge more herself and results after comes.
5. You won the Italian Championship (2017) and FIBA Europe Cup (2018) with Umana Venezia. What do you feel about those achievements?
Amazing, I played with great teammates and had fun with them for two years.
6. Please, pick your starting five made by Italian players in Legabaske this season.
Pg: Luca Vitali (maestro), Sg: Amedeo Della Valle (he makes rain), SF: Awudu Abass (he can make everything on the court), Pf: Giampaolo Ricci (one of the best pf on the overall league the last two year), C: Amedeo Tessitori (he can be the best Italian big men next seasons)
Photo: Euroleague
Gratian Cormos
