“Great public response to the Crete tournament with the participation of Olympiakos”

The public response to it is great International Basketball Tournament Cretewhich will take place over the weekend in Two Aoraki of Heraklion, with the participation OlympiakouFenerbahce, Armani Milano and Virtus Bologna. One of the organizers of the tournament, Manolis Rousakis, spoke to EOK WebRadio:

For the tournament: “We said this year to come back, because from the beginning it was our goal to have a tournament that will be established, it will be an institution and every year we will have four of the top teams in Europe in Heraklion and Crete.”

To prepare for the tournament: “We have been preparing it since the beginning of the year. We have a difficulty because the teams are not so easy to “close”, not because they don’t want to come here, but they see their own obligations, the cups of each league of their countries. We have to manage within this calendar and their obligations to find a way and dates that will suit the teams they want. That’s where the difficulty is and that, unfortunately for us, is after the championships are over, where we get the final assurances. In all the rest, we prepare it all year, because it has great demands when we talk about such teams. We are lucky that in Heraklion we have a very good stadium, which meets all the requirements that a tournament of this level needs. In fact, we have “built” a team that, knowing from the experience we have in the competitions, we try as much as possible to make everything as perfect as possible and for the teams to be very happy”.

For people’s response: “The response this year is very great. Olympiacos and Fenerbahce were in the last Final-4, Armani and Virtus are very strong teams. In theory Virtus was a weaker team, but they have made transfers, they got Clyburn, Cordinier at the Olympics was one of the best in France. I think this has made people very interested. I think that all these years we have given people here the opportunity to love and enjoy basketball, to enjoy players of this level. The fact that we give the possibility to all the clubs of Crete to bring 50 children for free, to watch the matches and enjoy the players, are some things that will help and the stadium will have a very large capacity”.

Regarding the presence of Olympiakos in the tournament: “In previous years we have made proposals, but so far our attempt to be Panathinaikos has not been successful. It may be next year, with great pleasure. We always want one of the four teams to be Greek. Thank God, our two teams that are in the Euroleague are not just strong, but among the best in Europe.”

On whether EuroLeague consent is needed for such a tournament: “We have an unofficial consent from the Euroleague. The partner of the Euroleague, ING, asked us for permission to come, bring cameras, “shoot” footage, show them in the pre-season highlights of the Euroleague and this is very important for us. They are coming for the first time. We have a partnership and we will try to make it more official and stronger in the coming years.”

For the events in the tournament: “We have various things. Outside the venue will be a large inflatable ball, we will have gifts from our sponsors at the entrance of the spectators. We secured four collectible George Printezis jerseys from the event held in honor of this great Greek athlete. We will draw these at halftime of the four games. Also, our big sponsor, OMIROS Aegean College, will give scholarships to spectators who will be in the stadiums. Plus everything else we give and manifest these days.”

The program of AEGEAN OMIROS COLLEGE IBT Crete

Saturday, September 14

18:00 Fenerbahce – Olimpia Milano

20:30 Olympiacos – Virtus Bologna

Sunday, September 15

18:00 Short Final

20:30 Grand Final