SYROS (Greece) - Georgios Papagiannis believes it is time for Greece to end their 13-year long medal drought in international competition as they target a strong run at FIBA EuroBasket 2022.

Papagiannis helped Greece move onto the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers with a 3-1 record as they started a busy summer with momentum after beating Great Britain on home soil.

Greece last finished on the podium of a major tournament back in 2009 when they earned a bronze medal at the EuroBasket in Poland, and Papagiannis is confident the potential is there to be in contention at this year's tournament. 

"I THINK WE ARE CERTAINLY CAPABLE TO FIGHT FOR A MEDAL."

"I don't want to put more pressure or put more weight on our shoulders, but I think we are certainly capable to fight for a medal," he told Greek website sport24.gr. "We have a small break now during which everyone is going to prepare individually and, if we're all well, I think we're a team that really has a lot of possibilities.

"[It's true] there is some pressure because it's now been a lot of years since the national team last managed to do something really good, and that is exactly what all of us will try to reverse this year, that's all I am going to say."

Greece will start their EuroBasket campaign in Milan as they come up against the hosts Italy along with Croatia, Great Britain, Ukraine and Estonia in Group C. Dimitris Itoudis has taken the reins as head coach with a winning start to the European Qualifiers with preparations underway for an important summer.

"He is one of the best in Europe, and that's not by accident," Papagiannis said of Itoudis. "He really knows what he needs us to bring out on the floor and how to do it.

"We'll take it step by step, from the Acropolis [tournament], then the August Qualifiers which are very important because we're talking about the World Cup, and then starting on September 2 we hope to start on the right foot and fight for a nice outcome."

Greece make the trip to face Serbia in their Second Round opener in the World Cup Qualifiers before hosting Belgium to complete the August window ahead of EuroBasket in September.

FIBA