Three days after the defeat in London, the Our national team he got his revenge on Great Britain by defeating me score 77-67 in the packed Palataki of Thessaloniki for the 4th matchday of the group stage of the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers.
After the end of the match, one of the protagonists of the “blue and white”, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, he referred to the great strength that the team gets from the support of the world, stressing that it exists huge “thirst” in the players and the world for a medal in Eurobasket!
At the same time, he expressed his opinion that the new generation will be ready in the future to… step into the shoes of the “greats” of Greek basketball!
Panagiotis Kalaitzakis stated in detail:
“The crowd today was amazing, just like in the friendly against Puerto Rico, they embraced us. We played in a full stadium, just like in the Pre-Olympic Tournament we played in a full SEF. I want to thank the audience. It was a victory, a little revenge as we had lost in London.
When you play for the national team and wear the national emblem, you have a great obligation. You wear a heavy jersey and you want to win every game. In London we were very good in the first half, we faltered in the second. Maybe it was because we are not together every day, we don’t train a lot. There are also new kids many times in the windows. We watched 4-5 times videos. The coach does that. He had prepared us. We were sure that we would come and with so many people we would get a victory. We are motivated.
Most of us don’t have very long participation in our groups. Apart from Kostas (Papanikolaou), the rest, me, Dimitris (Moraitis), Larry and Naz (Mitrou-Long) do not have much time in our teams, maybe because they are the best in Europe. We come here and give it our all. The jersey is very heavy and we have an obligation, we want to win every game. The main thing is to work and know what the coach is asking and what you can do. Have confidence in yourself. Psychology comes through training. Believe in yourself, in your abilities and never give up.
I think we will be ready to step into the shoes of the previous generation. This team has metal, it has an identity, we all want to win. We are one family. Those of us who were at Olympiada had a great time in the summer. It was a very nice experience, we were very good with each other both on and off the pitch. So I think that when Sloukas, Papanikolaou, Papapetrou, Kalathis and all the guys stop, we have to do what the previous ones have done. To be in the national team every summer as long as we are healthy. It is our obligation. And to give 100% in every event.
We have an identity. We want to “bite” in defense, to put our body, to sacrifice our “ego”, the fouls. Let’s play freely in attack. We have guys who read well, we have good shooters, we have good chemistry, and I hope everything goes well and we can be at EuroBasket in the summer and get a medal, which we and the country are thirsty for.”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
