By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos wants to honor Dimitris Diamantidis as the best ever athlete in the history of the club and tonight in the Eugenides Foundation, home of the city’s planetarium, his star shined once again.
A table book with 88 photos from his career was presented, three paintings with him as the theme were actioned for a total of 15.500 euros, which will be given to charities of his home town of Kastoria and Diamantidis couldn’t hide his feelings. “I believed that I would be cool, but I am not”, said before describing with few words his emotions that almost overcame him: “I want to thank mister Pavlos Giannakopoulos and Dimitris (ed.note: his son and current boss of Panathinaikos) for giving me the opportunity to be part of this club. I never believed that I could have such a career. I am very happy for this and also for the fact that I finished my career the way I did and for my family with two great children”.
Old friends like Lazaros Papadopoulos and coaches Panagiotis Giannakis and Giannis Ioannidis were present for the occasion, like many of his former Panathinaikos teammates and coach Argiris Pedoulakis. Nikola Vujcic represented Maccabi Tel Aviv, while Petteri Koponen, Alexander Vezenkov and coach Josep Maria Berrocal represented Barcelona.
