GRE – Kakiouzis, Hatzivrettas & Papadopoulos not in Greece squad

ATHENS (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) - Greece captain Mihalis Kakiouzis has been dropped from the national team ahead of this summer’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens.

Coach Panagiotis Yannakis announced his 19-man preliminary squad and Kakiouzis was left off, along with Lazaros Papadopoulos and Nikos Hatzivrettas – two other veterans who helped the country capture gold at EuroBasket 2005 and silver at the FIBA World Championship two years ago in Japan.

Papadopoulos and Hatzivrettas did not want to be included, but that was not the case for Kakiouzis who held a press conference to say he did not understand the decision but respected it.

Kakiouzis added that he will always “be a soldier for the national team if they need him”.

Giant center Kostas Koufos, the most valuable player of last year’s U18 European Championship in Madrid, has been included as well as Sofoklis Schortsianitis – the soon-to-be 23-year-old big man who made a comeback at the end of the campaign at Olympiacos under Yannakis after battling weight problems.

Greece’s preparations will start on June 23 in Karpenisi with Koufos, who has turned professional following his freshman season at Ohio State, not expected until several days after the NBA draft.

The 2.16m Koufos is projected to be a first-round selection in North America.

Koufos is among six players called up for the first time.

The others are Vassilis Xanthopoulos (Panionios), Dimitris Tsaldaris (Aris), Yannis Kalampokis (Panionios), Yorgos Printezis (Olympiacos) and Ian Vouyoukas (Olympiacos).

Greece preliminary squad: Vassilis Spanoulis, Nikos Zisis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Kostas Tsartsaris, Dimos Dikoudis, Stratos Perperoglou, Antonis Fotsis, Theo Papaloukas, Panagiotis Vassilopoulos, Yannis Bourousis, Sofoklis Schortsianitis, Yorgos Printezis, Ian Vouyoukas, Mihalis Pelekanos, Kostas Koufos, Dimitris Tsaldaris, Andreas Glyniadakis, Yannis Kalampokis, Vassilis Xanthopoulos.

FIBA