ROME - Kobe Bryant's death has caused special sorrow in Italy,
a country where the US basketball superstar spent his childhood
years.
A minute's silence will be observed in all official basketball games
this week, the Italian Basketball Federation said in a Monday
statement.
"A small but heartfelt gesture to honour the life and memory of Kobe
Bryant, an absolute champion who always had Italy in his heart," the
federation said.
Bryant lived in Italy aged 6 to 13 because his father, also a
basketball player, played for several Italian clubs during those
years.
He was a regular visitor to Italy, was fluent in Italian, and gave
Italian names to his four daughters, including 13-year-old Gianna,
who died with him and seven other in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
The mayor of Reggio Emilia, one of the four Italian cities in which
Bryant grew up, wrote on Facebook that the city would "always
remember him fondly and with gratitude. Ciao Kobe."