Angela Adamoli will be taking over from Italian compatriot Santino Coppa as head coach of the women’s national team, the Malta Basketball Associa-tion announced this week.

In ten years at the helm, Coppa led the Maltese girls to a series of remarkable results not least the two gold medals won at the Games of the Small States of Europe and two similar successes in FIBA competitions.

Coppa will be a hard act to follow and the MBA thanked the wily Sicilian for his sterling services.

However, Adamoli, 40, seems to have all the right prerequisites to coach the team and keep the girls competitive at their level.

Her playing career is impressive. She figured for the national team 94 times and helped the Azzurri to a creditable second place in the European Championships of 1995 which were staged in Brno, Czech Republic.

Adamoli made it to the top flight as a 15-year-old guard with Primigi and won the league title at the first attempt.

She played for other top teams in a glittering 16-year span, going on to scoop other major honours including the European Champions Cup, Ronchetti Cup and the Coppa Italia.

After hanging up her boots, Livorno-born Adamoli took up coaching in 2004, a career that took her to various clubs at different levels of the Italian game.

At present, she is coaching the Lazio Azzurrini. She is also head coach Serie B and in charge of the national team for university students.

In summer, Adamoli was also part of the technical staff of the Italian U-20 team in the European Championships in Hungary.

Earlier this month, Adamoli was in Malta to finalise talks with the MBA and also to watch matches from the women’s pre-season tourna-ment at Tal-Qroqq.