Sasha Vezenkov: «Let it be the last tragedy ever»
Olympiacos will be playing against Armani in Milan tomorrow (03/03, 20.30 CET), however, everyone’s thoughts are with the Tempi tragedy.
“On behalf of all the team, I would like to express our condolences to all the families that have lost their loved ones, as well as to those who are still looking for them”, Sasha Vezenkov initially said and continued with the following: “It’s a huge tragedy. May those who passed rest in peace. Basketball of course is secondary right now. During moments like these we realize that many times we get upset and anxious over insignificant stuff and we get to see what’s really important. Each one of us could have been in the place of those kids, because we are mainly talking about young kids. I wish this tragedy is the last one ever and that it teaches us a lot. Again, our condolences to all those who lost loved ones”.
In regard to his comment that Kostas Papanikolaou could have easily been February’s MVP instead of him, he said: “Kostas is having a superb season. However, the most important thing is the team. I don’t care about individual accolades. The important thing is that the team wins. We have had some very difficult games in February, missing key players… But we got to continue our streak from last month. What we need to be doing though, is to look at one game at a time. All games are finals. Each team is fighting for a different goal. Some to make the playoffs, some to secure home court advantage, others play for the respect of the game, their image, and players are also playing for their next contracts. There are no easy games. We have to remain focused, gather as many wins as possible and be healthy and focused on our goals during the last part of the season”.
About the intense ‘red and whites’ presence tomorrow at the arena, the Olympiacos’ forward made the following comment: “Apart from the games and the results, the team’s biggest success is that the fans are back in the gym. We get to see families, kids, people enjoying what they see. The most important thing is definitely to achieve our goals at the end of the season, but it makes us happy and proud to have the effort we are making on and off the court acknowledged. It’s important that on such a difficult court like that of Milan, we are going to be having our fans by our side. Armani has many good and talented players. It’s not apparent in their ranking but we are expecting a battle, a hard game, that have to win together”.