Greece is set to kick off its participation in the “Acropolis Cup” in Athens with a match against Serbia at 18:45. According to Greek media reports, Kostas Papanikolaou is not part of the team due to lower back pain, and he also missed the training session on Monday.
For the match against the “Eagles,” coach Dimitris Itoudis has selected the following 14 players: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Giannoulis Larentzakis, Ioannis Papapetrou, Dimitris Agravanis, Georgios Papagiannis, Michalis Lountzis, Dinos Mitoglou, Lefteris Bochoridis, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, Nikos Rogkavopoulos, Dimitris Moraitis, Vassilis Toliopoulos, Thomas Walkup, and Manos Chatzidakis.
Kostas Papanikolaou is expected to be ready to continue his preparations for the World Cup.
Exciting times to be a Greece fan 🔥#FIBAWC x #WinForHellas 🇬🇷 pic.twitter.com/O651DSH2w7
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) July 20, 2023
On the other hand, Serbia’s head coach, Svetislav Pesic, also had some issues with injured players ahead of their trip to Athens. The roster for the “Eagles” looks as follows:
Stefan Jovic, Aleksa Avramovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Nedovic, Marko Guduric, Vanja Marinkovic, Aleksa Radanov, Ognjen Dobric, Dejan Davidovac, Filip Petrusev, Nikola Jovic, Dusan Ristic, Nikola Milutinov, and Borisa Simanic.
Alen Smailagic, Uros Trifunovic, Dusan Beslac, and Nikola Topic stayed in Belgrade. The duo from Partizan is still undergoing treatment for injuries and illness, Dušan Beslac was granted leave after his wedding over the weekend, and Nikola Topic is resting after winning the gold medal for U18 players in Niš.
After returning from Athens, Serbia will host one of their World Cup group rivals, Puerto Rico, at the Stark Arena. Following this match, the team will travel to China for two final warm-up games against Aleksandar Djordjevic’s team (August 20) and Brazil (August 21).
Serbia is placed in Group B with teams from South Sudan, China, and Puerto Rico.