Nikolopoulou: “We did our job with Panathinaikos – We must respect the opponents”

One way marked for him Olympic the conquest of the championship by Angeliki Nikolopoulou speaking on EEC Web Radio. The leader of the “red and white” referred to the victory over Panathinaikos, but also to her commendable move to ask for the abusive slogans to stop. He spoke in detail about:

For the victory over Panathinaikos: “The truth is that from the beginning of the year the coaching staff had a completely different plan in mind. We had a foreigner get injured along the way, we never got to play together, we never met, our roles were a bit odd, we lost both games on the Avenue. I wouldn’t say that we gave an answer, because I haven’t learned to play to give answers, but to get what I think my team deserves. I think we went and did our job, because we wanted the home advantage in the finals. We did what we had to, we played the basketball we wanted to play, with that passion and intensity, and I think we got exactly the result we wanted.”

For the reaction they got when Panathinaikos came back in the 3rd period: “I think both games we lost in the Avenue were lost by our own offensive inability to approach them as we would have liked. We made very quick attacks in the first two matches, as well as in the one on Sunday, where we gave Panathinaikos the opportunity to run, which he likes a lot. We fell into this “trap”, however we managed and controlled it, we turned the game around as in the 1st half, through our defense, we “closed” their rebounds, stopped what they are capable of doing and brought the match within our control” .

For the move he made to the world to stop abusive slogans: “Generally I think that athletes being public figures have the possibility to do something like that. I think they should have come forward a long time ago to pass the messages against fan violence. With all the events that have happened in our society, I think that as humans we need to put them aside. We have to set these examples, we owe it to what we do and to the young children who come to the sport to see it to set an example. We owe it to ourselves. I did it because that’s how I felt at the time. This is also the line in general, the game is played in four lines. Unfortunately, all these years this has been part of the Greek culture, the fans are part of the game, but there must be limits to everything. We have to respect our opponents, as this represents a value in winning every match we play and to win cleanly and honestly in all four lines”.

For the championship goal: “We have to win. For me, winning the championship is one way, because every year you have to go in and get the titles. When you’re considered a favorite and when you’re a champion, that’s what you carry. You have to win the championship and the Cup every year. This year we didn’t win the Cup, we only have the championship left, so it’s the only way to win it.”

For the role of leader, which she has since this year: “It was something very beautiful and for me very honorable, because it came directly from the president of Amateur. In general, I am a person who likes to deal with the public, I am interested in the people around me, so I entered from the beginning as I, as Angeliki, had to enter this part, to care about the unity of the group, to be interested in my teammates. Certainly what has changed for me is that now I am much calmer in being able to have a conversation, in trying to boost the team, in finding solutions without always going to extremes. This has helped me in my personal life as well. Nothing else has changed, I continue to do the work I did on the field. For me, the role of captain means nothing if you can’t support him on the pitch, you have to do specific things. I thank the coach and my teammates who “embraced” all this, they have accepted me, they support me in everything and we are fine”.

For women’s basketball publicity: “Women’s basketball doesn’t get the same publicity as men’s. This may not change as soon as we wish and especially in view of 2025 when a Eurobasket is also coming to our country. These are steps that need to be done quite quickly, for EuroBasket 2025, and I don’t know to what extent we are ready to do them. There is a “chain” of many bad things in this process. I think that in essence we women should love our sport a little more so that everyone else will love us too. In 2017 we managed and entered some people’s houses, there was street recognition. Now the times are changing and we have to do some things to take advantage of everything that is happening, so that we have as much exposure as we can.”