Kaklamanakis: “Let’s celebrate the promotion with Panionios”

Dimitris Kaklamanakis wishes to celebrate promotion to A1 with Panionios in an interview he gave to EEC webradio. The ace of the blue-and-reds spoke about his decision to transfer to the Nea Smyrni team and also referred to today’s match against Panerythraikos, in the context of the 1st matchday of the 2nd Phase of the Greek Cup.

In detail what the center of Panionio said on EEC webradio…

For the game against Panerythraikos:

“For us it is the first official game. We want to be very competitive, to put out a very good face. It goes without saying that we want to beat our opponent and to be ready for next week and the first matchday of the Elite League”.

For Panerythraikos:



“We are quite ready I think. We have seen some things from the players, we know Panerythraikos, they are a team that has “body”, they play a certain basketball, the coach has been with the team for several years. We think we will be quite competitive and we are ready for tomorrow.”

For the preparation of Panionion:



“The truth is that the friendlies have helped us enough to know what to expect. All the games this year will be very difficult, we cannot say that we will have an easy match, we have to be focused and ready at 100% every time. Although a “trunk” has been kept, there are also new kids like me. We had some misfortunes, like with the injury of Vyrlas or Antonakis and other guys who missed a big part of the preparation. Now we can say that we are complete, lately we have all started working together as a team. Through the games we will become better each season”.

On their goal in the Cup:



“A very big goal for the team is to achieve what they did last year, when they reached the Final-8 of the Cup and “bumped” against AEK. If we can’t reach him, I hope we can achieve something close to that.”

For this year’s Elite League Championship:



“I think there is a lot of perspective, all the teams have very good material, with quite a few guys who came down from A1 to the Elite League. I think it will be a very competitive league. We, however, want to be the ones to finish first and celebrate the promotion”.

Regarding his transfer to Panionios:



“I have great respect for the Panioni team, they are one of the most historic teams in Greece. I saw in their plans that they want to star in the Elite League and they have a vision for the team that I agree with very much, to compete in A1 next year and be competitive. I didn’t have much difficulty in making the decision and I am very happy to be in the team and I will be in the effort to get Panionios up to A1”.

On whether he will be in Panionios next season as well:



“I think the most important thing is to look at now and to find the team in A1. We must all try to give 100%, because otherwise we will not succeed. We will all have to give our best, for the team to go up to A1 and then we’ll see.”

Editor: Konstantina Tolia