By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The six international players of Olympiacos that were included in the preliminary rosters of their countries ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers, issued a joint statement in which they announce their decision to not join their national teams in the games.
These players are Giorgos Printezis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Vangelis Mantzaris, Ioannis Papapetrou (Greece), Nikola Milutinov (Serbia) and Janis Strelnieks (Latvia).
The announcement is as follows:
Since our childhood, we have always responded to any call – up of our National Teams, staying for weeks away from our families, paying no attention to our fatigue and ignoring the risk of injury. In fact, we have suffered several injuries and played through them, whenever we have been asked for. It is known that we have done this out of love, respect, and dedication and this is the reason we have never complained about it.
However, in view of the changes that have been occurred by the new world calendar, we are in the unpleasant position to announce our decision to not participate in the squads of our National Teams for the FIBA Word Cup 2019 qualifiers.
It may be understood that, at this stage, it is practically impossible and unprofessional to be absent for the forthcoming matches of our team in the Euroleague, whereas most of us have already missed the biggest part of the pre-season training of the team due to our participation in the EuroBasket 2017.
We hope that the situation will soon return to normal so that we will be able to help again the efforts of our National Teams.
Sincerely,
Giorgos Printezis
Vaggelis Mantzaris
Nikola Milutinov
Kostas Papanikolaou
Ioannis Papapetrou
Janis Strelnieks