(ANSA) - Turin, August 3 - Carabinieri police have said that they have tracked down three youths suspected of attacking Italian athlete Daisy Osakue by hurling an egg at her face near Turin earlier this week, causing an eye injury.

The three, residents of Vinovo, La Loggia and Moncalieri, have been reported to prosecutors for bodily harm and failure to provide assistance.

The youths said the attack on the discus thrower, who was born in Italy to Nigerian parents, was a prank and was not motivated by racism. One of the youths is the son of local councillor for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).

The attack on Osakue was associated to a series of recent incidents of xenophobia in Italy.

The opposition PD has linked these episodes to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's tough talk on migrants.

Salvini, who is also deputy premier and leader of the rightwing League party, has dismissed talk of a racism emergency in Italy as nonsense.

