Italian basketball team hopes for bronze

European men's basketball champions Italy left for the Olympic Games on Wednesday pledging to bring home at least a bronze medal.

"The favourites are the United States, Australia, Yugoslavia and Canada," team manager Carlo Silvestri said before the team left Rome's Fiumicino airport.

"But we're going to the Olympics with the intention of doing something big and, above all, getting on the podium."

The Italians, who won their second European crown last year, will stop off in Hong Kong and Perth to compete in two pre-Olympic tournaments before reaching Sydney on September 14.

They will compete in Pool A against the United States, France, China, Lithuania and New Zealand.