Papanikolaou: “Proud of the effort – I enjoyed the ride with these guys”

THE Hellas fought in the indifferent points match against the Montenegrobut ultimately losing 73-69, which dropped them to 15th place in the World Cup.

After the match, the captain of the National Team, Kostas Papanikolaouemphasized that the National Team was not as competitive as it needed to be, but that he is proud of its effort and the unity it showed.

In detail what he said:

“Unfortunately we couldn’t be as competitive as we wanted. We did it on some tracks, we wanted to give our fans something after they traveled to the other side of the earth for us. But Montenegro played very strong, they went better in the details in the crucial moments and won. The most important element was the unity and determination that all the children had. We knew we didn’t have the same talent as other teams and we had to work twice as hard to cover the distance.

Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes not. I enjoyed the ride with these guys. It’s not a given that you get the chance to represent your country and making those connections is important. There may be nerves at times, but that ends quickly. This unit is the most important for this group. That’s why I’m proud of the effort we made. We were fighters and we gave it our all.”