By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
One of the main obstacles for the possible return of Panagiotis Giannakis to the bench of the Greek national team is out of the way. According to reports from China the Greek coach is officially released by the team and he will be compensated according to his contract, which ran until the summer of 2016. Initially the Chinese federation wanted to keep him as a technical advisor to the team, but Giannakis didn’t want that. The general sports administration intervened, there is a reported agreement for Giannakis’ compensation for the early termination of his contract and Gong Luming will replace him.
With the “Dragon” officially available the race for the bench of the Greek national team gets even more interesting as we have reported first ten days ago. There are also other candidates, however many believe that Giannakis as a symbol and as a personality can help the team make a new start after the mediocre results of the last few tournaments. It remains to be seen what will be the final decision of the federation, which will also have to officially part ways with Italian coach Andrea Trinchieri.