HERAKLION (2015 FIBA U19 World Championship) - Greece is going through a difficult economic situation and the Greek players at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship feel honoured that the country's people see them as hope in these trying times.

Greece games at Heraklion Arena have been drawing good crowds and the home side players make sure they give as much attention to the fans as possible after the games. Many of the players have received words of encouragement over social media and are being told they represent hope at the current moment of financial struggles.

"Greece is facing many economic difficulties nowadays. The economic situation is terrible. The only hope in the end is us," said Greek center Kostas Mitoglou.

"We give [the Greek people] energy and we try to give everything we have."

Greek point guard Dimitrios Stamatis said messages of hope coming from the people is special for him and his teammates.

"That's a very good feeling to be hope for people coming to the gym. We want to continue this. We want the people to support us and believe in us," he said.

"It's very important for us to have this crowd even though we have so many problems as a country. This gives us so much courage to continue and be better in the tournament."

Seeing the crowd here every day is a very good motivation for us. - Papagiannis

Greece center Georgios Papagiannis said the team just wants to do everything it can to help the country.

"We fight for them, we fight for Greece because we want to see our flag in the first place. That's all we care about," said the Greek big man.

The Greeks have also served up some impressive highlights in their first four games - much to the delight of the fans.

Greece face Spain in Friday's last Quarter-Final.

FIBA