Ahead of the Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament and a friendly match in September between EuroLeague basketball clubs Panathinaikos and KK Partizan, an event was held in Melbourne attended by the presidents of both clubs.
The European Powerhouses will first play each other in Melbourne on September 18, before a four-team tournament with the NBL’s Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers in Sydney on September 21 and 22.
President of Panathinaikos Vassilis Parthenopoulos and President of KK Partizan Ostoja Mijailović were both gifted plaques from President of the Greek Community of Melbourne Bill Papastergiadis.
“I was raised and educated in this country, I owe a lot to this country and the Australians and I’m proud to be an Australian citizen,” Parthenopoulos said.
He called his Serbian friends at Partizan, brothers.
“Diaspora for us, it’s holy.”
“This is the reason why we came here, we came here to honour Pavlos and honour those of the diaspora and all the Greeks.”
Bill Papastergiadis added that “the bond between the Greeks and the Serbians is strong.”
He pointed to Serbia FC allowing them to host the Hellenic Football Cup at their ground.
“That is the strength in this country of these two great nationalities.”
Neos Kosmos also had the opportunity to interview Parthenopoulos, readers can expect to read the story next week.
