English
Srpski

Logo
05.09.2008
Schedule
Standings
Statistics
Teams
Players
Player home
Photo gallery
History
Destination SCG
Sponsors
Referees
News Archive
Qualification
History
NEWS
  25.06.2008 - Greek Hero Papaloukas Seals Return To Olympiacos
  13.01.2006 - Greece: Papaloukas, Greece Look To Japan
  04.03.2005 - Russia: Papaloukas Honoured
  12.09.2003 - Israel 56 Greece 63
  11.09.2003 - Greece 59 Italy 62
MASCOT
VIDEOS
  Highlights Finals
  All Video Highlights
 Greece: Papaloukas, Greece Look To Japan

13.01.2006

The dust has finally settled on Greece's EuroBasket 2005 gold medal triumph but there are other tournaments still to conquer.

The first for coach Panagiotis Yannakis and his players will be the FIBA World Championship in Japan in August. The draw for that competition takes place on Sunday.

Greece, who came from behind to stun Russia and France in the quarter-finals and semis, respectively, in Belgrade, before beating Germany in the EuroBasket final, got outstanding contributions from their tall guard Theo Papaloukas.

He admits this summer's 24-team event is going to be a huge test of the team's credentials.

"(We need) to keep playing like this," said Papaloukas to PA Sport. "We know what to expect. We have the same coach and most of the same players. We have to play hard on defense and destroy the other teams' game and play clever."

Greece, despite having a roster full of European stars, did not boast players with big reputations like Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Andrei Kirilenko (Russia) or Tony Parker (France). They did excel, however, because Yannakis had them playing as a team.

The secret to their success, Papaloukas knows, is out.

"It's going to harder (for us) because everybody knows you," he said.