The Panathinaikos U-19 team is in Patras, where the U-19 Greek Championship will be hosted from May 8 to May 12 at the “Panagia Alexiotissa” arena.
The clover youngsters got the ticket for the Greek championship conquering the ESKA league a few days ago at the “Apostolos Nikolaidis” indoor arena. Their goal is to defend the title they conquered last season, being present for the third time in a row at the final phase of the tourney.
The Panathinaikos coach, Kostas Papadopoulos, stated: “We conquered the ESKA league and what we want now is to defend our title from last season as Greek Champions. At the same time however, because most of our athletes are young, we want them to also gather experience which will come in handy next. The Greek Championship final phase is expected to be of a higher level compared to last season, since the teams are tougher, are better this season. Even from the premiere we have a tough mission, since we are up against Panionios, but this is not the only tough matchup we are to come across. Aris and Ergotelis are also strong teams… There is no easy game… We want to be prepared, knowing that we have little time to do so after the end of the ESKA league, while we are also facing a few injuries, which we must face down the road…”
The tournament’s schedule:
Wednesday, May 8
16.00 AS Aris-AS Kastoria
18.00 Panionios GSS-Panathinaikos
1930 Inauguration ceremony
20.00 GS Ergotelis-AEO Sporting
Thursday, May 9
16.00 Panionios GSS-AS Aris
18.00 Panathinaikos-GS Ergotelis
20.00 AEO Sporting-AS Kastoria
Friday, May 10
16.00 AS Kastoria -Panathinaikos
18.00 GS Ergotelis-Panionios GSS
20.00 AS Aris-AEO Sporting
Saturday, May 11
15.00 Panionios GSS-AS Kastoria
17.00 AS Aris-GS Ergotelis
19.00 Panathinaikos-AEO Sporting
Sunday, May 12
09.00 AS Kastoria -GS Ergotelis
11.00 AEO Sporting-Panionios GSS
13.00 Panathinaikos-AS Aris
14.30 Closing ceremony/Awards
