F4 polo: “We all want to win the title”

At the press conference held on Thursday afternoon in the hall of “Antonis Pepanos”, in view of the Final 4 men’s and women’s polo cups, 3-4 of the month, the President of KOE, Kyriakos Giannopoulos, and the representatives of the eight teams who take part.

What they said in detail:

Kyriakos Yiannopoulos (Chairman of KOE): “We came here to Patras, a city with a tradition of water polo and we are happy that eight of the best teams in the sport will participate in this celebration. I thank PEAK, management and employees, who have given their best to make this event a success.

I would like to ask those who do not have an invitation not to come to the swimming pool. Those who have, by showing their police ID, will be able to enter the swimming pool and watch the games.

I understand everyone who wants to come, because they love the sport and want to see the Olympians and world champions competing up close, but, unfortunately, we cannot accommodate more people than the police authorities allow us to. It’s a matter of safety.

We hope, however, that at some point we will be able to fill a 4,000-seat swimming pool in such competitions – and in these types of competitions – if we all show the necessary consistency. It is important that in this tournament we will test the use of VAR for the first time, in all matches. VAR has come into our lives for good and I think it is necessary as justice is served.

KOE will honor, in the context of this event, people who wrote history in wet athletics, Kostas Agouridis and Giorgos Kakoulidis. But also two factors that have given a lot. Christos Manetas and George Telonis. We also decided to honor the great ‘Nureyev’ for his contribution, Kostas Petropoulos, not only to basketball, but to Greek sports as a whole.

Our pursuit and desire is to organize events in the region. After here, we have matches of our other sports in Ioannina, Alexandroupoli and elsewhere. In Patras, we hope that great events will be held in the future. But I have to say something: When we approached the District and they answered us after 46 days, do you think that is correct? Seriously; I accept the negative answer, but I do not accept an answer after 46 days.

In closing, I want to tell you that, in collaboration with the administration of PEAK, we support the ‘Not Alone’ movement, so that the abuse of women can finally stop.”

Alexandra Asimaki (leader of Alimos NAS Betsson): “I am happy that Alimos is making his ‘maiden’ appearance in the Final-4. I’m sure there will be great matches. For me, it’s special to be back in an event where the men’s and women’s races are held together. It’s nice. We have a difficult task against Olympiakos in the semi-final, we have already done our best and we will strive for the best”.

Dimitris Bitsakos (technical director of Alimos NAS): “We are very satisfied that Alimos participates in such an event-celebration of the sport, and for me the satisfaction is even greater, as it takes place in my home country.”

Eleni Sotireli (captain and goalkeeper of Ethniko): “Thank you for hosting Patras. It’s nice to have these races in a country town. Good luck to all teams. I hope we achieve our goal, which is first the presence in the final and then the Cup”.

Stefanos Leandros (coach of Ethniki): “It’s a big deal to come to a city in the region for games like this and I think we’ll all enjoy it. The undisputed favorite is Olympiacos, but we also have ambitions.”

Kiki Liosi (coach of NO Vouliagmeni): “History requires us, as NO Vouliagmeni, to be in all the Final-4 and we will claim the Cup. In these competitions, however, everyone, even the theoretically small teams, is given the opportunity to claim something good.”

Marina Kotsioni (goalkeeper NOV): “All the teams came because we want to win the Cup. I hope it’s us.”

Margarita Pleuritou (Olympiakos captain): “I want to thank Patras for the hospitality. It is unique that the men’s and women’s Cup are held together again. They will be very nice games. Congratulations to all the teams that are here and good luck.”

Aleksandar Ciric (Olympiakos coach): “We all hope for the best spectacle and I want to see my team put on their best performance and claim the trophy to keep the ‘sceptre’.”

Dimitris Mazis (Panathinaikos coach): “We feel great joy that Panathinaikos is, after a long time, back in the Final-4 of the Greek Cup. The institution has presented great duels in the past and I hope that such will happen now as well. I’m not thinking about the eventual match against Olympiakos in the final, because I have in mind the crucial and difficult semi-final against Ethnikos”.

Demosthenes Dermitzakis (head of Panathinaikos): “Good luck to everyone. We are very happy to be here, at the celebration of sport, in a regional city. We will fight for the best.”

Marios Kapotsis (leader of NO Vouliagmeni): “Congratulations to KOE and Patras for bringing the institution here. Vouliagmeni always has high goals. Against Olympiakos we will show a very good face and be competitive”.

Vladimir Vujasinovic (coach of NO Vouliagmeni): “We played ten days ago with Olympiakos and they were very strong. We will now try to fight them better.”

Igor Milanovic (Olympiakos coach): “This semi-final of the Cup is a different game than the one of the Champions League against Vouliagmeni. We are ready, I wish to have fun game. I believe we will win the Cup.”

Dinos Genidounias (Olympiakos captain): “Patra has shown that it can organize very high level matches together with KOE. I hope there will be good games, even though there is pressure, because we are considered favourites. We have worked hard enough and we have to prove that we are the favorite, not in words, but also in the pool.”

Fanis Kountoudios (coach of Ethniki): “We are happy to be in Patras and will compete in front of an audience that knows the sport. Let everyone enjoy the spectacle. We have no pressure. I think that Olympiacos is not the only favorite, we all have our chances, in turn NOV and Panathinaikos and we too.”

Panagiotis Papadogonas (leader of Ethnikos): “We are happy that the historic Ethnikos will participate in this event as well. Our goal is for the match we will give to be an advertisement for our sport. To get more kids into it.”

The semi-finals will be held on Friday with the following schedule:

15.00 PANATHINAIKOS – ETHNICOS PIRAEUS (A)

17.00 NATIONAL NOBEL HELLAS – NO VOULIAGMENIS (C)

19.00 ALIMOS NAS BETSSON – OLYMPIC (C)

21.00 OLYMPIAKOS – NO VOULIAGMENIS (A)

On Saturday the two finals will be held:

17.00 WOMEN’S FINAL

19.00 MEN’S FINAL

The matches will be televised by ERT.