NICOSIA, 11 May 2009 - The Cyprus men's Basketball
National Team has been intensively training for the
upcoming XIII Games of the Small States of Europe since
27 April, under the guidance of National coaches
Christos Stylianides, Linos Gavriel and Nikos Lambrias.
Not to underestimate the strength of the home team's
opponents in the GSSE, the only goal for the team, set
from the very beginning, is the gold medal.
Traditional opponents at GSSE level in the road to this
goal will be Luxembourg and Iceland.
The
Cyprus National Team will travel to Novi Sad, Serbia, on
20 May, for a series of friendly matches with the local
club teams of Vojvodina, Metalac and Hemofarm, all in
the Serbian A League. Negotiations are underway for an
additional match against either Red Star or Partizan of
Belgrade, who are currently facing off each other in the
finals of the Serbian League.
The
matches in Serbia are expected to help the Cyprus team
achieve homogeneity and to measure its power against
such strong opponents. The team returns to Cyprus on 26
May and retires to a hotel as of 31 May, just two days
before the start of the GSSE Basketball Tournament, at
the Eleftheria Indoor Hall of Nicosia.
"Our
main goal is to win the gold medal," said Gavriel. "We
know the capabilities of our opponents, although we do
not, as yet, have the final rosters of the teams at our
disposal. All the boys are working hard with zeal, but
our main problem is lack of uniformity as not all our
players had the same amount of playing time during the
winter season. Nonetheless, we feel we will overcome
this obstacle and we call upon the public to come and
help our boys in their efforts in the GSSE."
The players called for
duty with the National Team are Giorgos Palalas,
Michalis Kounounes, Alexandros Liatsos, Christos
Loizides, Panayotis Trisokkas, Panayotis Yannas,
Christophoros Razes, Giorgos Theocharides, Stratis
Stylianou, JoJo Garcia, Giorgos Anastasiades, Giorgos
Neophytou, Andreas Sizopoulos, Aris Koronides, Tolis
Kaskires and Grigoris Pantoures.
PP/CD