Italy forward Alex Righetti is frustrated by the sprained ankle he picked up in Saturday's victory over Russia but he's not worried about missing out on the European Championships.

The injury forced him to miss Sunday's win over Turkey in the championship game of the Efes Pilsen World Cup II.

As of Monday, the swelling had yet to go down and Italy coach Carlo Recalcati, with Matteo Soragna also carrying a knock, has asked Marco Carraretto and Luca Garri to return to training in case the duo do not recover in time for next month's tournament in Sweden.

"The ankle is still swollen but this is normal," Righetti, 26, told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I hope this injury does not have an affect on my chances. "I know myself, I know that I can recover. In fact, I will recover very fast."

Although Righetti is unlikely to play in Italy's last friendly against Germany in Berlin on August 31 prior to their departure to Scandinavia, he is set to join the Azzurri as they
resume training in Varese on Wednesday.

Italy lost some friendly games earlier this month but they are suddenly an extremely confident bunch after winning the Strasbourg tournament, and the weekend event in
Istanbul which also included the likes of world and European champions Serbia & Montenegro and Latvia.

"We are growing," Righetti said. "In the latest tournaments, the team has shown a constant improvement which is the right path to take."

The Azzurri have an extremely difficult Group A opener in Sweden on September 5 against Slovenia, who beat them in qualifying.

They take on France the following before concluding the first phase against a Bosnia-Herzegovina side which has been very impressive this summer.

"We are strong and united," Righetti said. "It is going to be a difficult championships, with so many NBA players in other teams.

"In order to do well we have to play as we have done in France and in Turkey, in fact, we have to try and play even better."

Righetti is the only Virtus Roma player in the national team following the international retirement of former captain Carlton Myers.