By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The sound of a basketball snapping through a net can be taken for granted, but for Achille Polonara, it is currently the ultimate feeling for body and soul. Nine months after a devastating diagnosis of myeloid leukemia, the 34-year-old Italian power forward is back on the hardwood at PalaSerradimigni, reclaiming his career one jumper at a time.
His journey from a life-threatening illness to the floor of Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari is nothing short of miraculous. Having already defeated testicular cancer in 2023, he has now overcome leukemia and a surgical procedure to close a hole in his heart.
While he spent months enduring chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, a recent video of him taking shots in Sassari has spread emotion across the basketball world.
I video che fanno bene al cuore 🫀
Dopo la malattia e il trapianto di midollo Achi è tornato ad allenarsi e sta facendo allenamento individuale in palestra a Sassari 👏🏻💪🏻#Polonara pic.twitter.com/M8kc2fzIAR
— Eurosport IT (@Eurosport_IT) March 30, 2026
In a moving interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Davide Romani, Polonara described the sensation of his return: “Getting the ball back in my hands after ten months was exciting, beautiful. At first, it felt like it was the first time I’d played basketball, but then, shot after shot, the feeling returned more and more.”
While his presence in the gym signals a triumphant final stage of recovery, Polonara is tempering expectations for an immediate match appearance. “For now, I’m focused on individual training,” he told Romani. “I have to be careful not to suffer any injuries or bruises, so my contact work with the team will begin after the summer.”
To further ensure his health, Polonara recently traveled to Valencia to begin a course of experimental medication. “It’s quite a long process,” he noted regarding the risk of relapse. “It will take 2-3 years to be sure there’s no longer any risk.”
Polonara used his time away from the court to pen his biography, “Il mio secondo tempo: Una storia di basket, una storia di vita” (My Second Half: A Story of Basketball, A Story of Life), written alongside Marco Garavaglia. “I chose to do it now to take advantage of this pit stop,” he explained.
Signed with Sassari, he remains a pillar of the team even from the sidelines. As he watches the delicate final games of the 2025-26 Regular Season of Italy’s LBA UnipolSai, he remains an optimist: “Staying up is an achievable goal. We have to approach every opponent like a final.”
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