KAE Panathinaikos are set to make history as this year’s “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” tournament will take place at the Panathinaikos Stadium.
Trifyllio owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos spoke about this year’s event and also about his family’s relationship with Zelikos Obradovics.
His statements in detail:
“I welcome you to the 6th Pavlos Giannakopoulos tournament. This year is a little different. We have the best teams in Europe and I thank them. But it is not just a tournament, it is a cultural, social and sporting event. We will play in Kallimarmaro for the first time since 1968 in an international match. Thank you to all the operators. I hope the weather is good and that 40,000 people will enjoy something special. I am among friends. Years of relationship with Maccabi, we have fought for the good of basketball. Thanks to Efes who keeps coming. I saw Ataman in blue and said I wanted to see him in green. And it happened. And this choice was crowned with success. I will be at the end of Partizan and my older brother Zeliko, who always answers wherever he is. My father had an office at home that I left as it was. The photos are probably more with Zeliko than with me. I wish the teams much health and success. Sport is about uniting. We do not look at countries, religions. We want to do something together. so that people come to the stadium and leave hugging each other.”
On whether he imagined Panathinaikos would reach this commercial and competitive level and whether they have it: “Looking at the Euroleague and what is happening, I see that there are people who love the sport and want to make it better and know about business. When I decided to invest money, energy and time in Panathinaikos, I only aimed for the top. That’s why I brought Ataman and the players. The summit was the goal and we managed to do it in one year. Of course I believed, if you don’t believe you won’t get anywhere.”
On whether the tournament will be held at the Panathinaikos Stadium: “The Panathenaic Stadium is historic. This year will be a historic tournament, I hope that next year OAKA will be ready to host all the tournaments, NBA teams, teams from everywhere.”
On whether “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” wants to become a Euroleague institution and whether the investment in OAKA is aimed at some kind of return or whether for the world of Panathinaikos he could destroy everything as Pavlos used to say: “The tournament is already on the Euroleague calendar, as far as I know. Both can be done. You can do the best for the people of Panathinaikos and it can also be an investment. A few years ago I said that it makes no sense to throw money down the basketball hole. Basketball is a business that must work with rules and there must be an experience for the fans.”