GRE – Kaltsidou: ‘Never give up on your dreams’

BOURGES (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) - Greece could not have asked for a tougher draw for their first-ever appearance at a FIBA World Championship for Women.

In Ostrava, the Czech Republic, later this year, the team led by Kostas Missas will take on Olympic gold medalists Team USA, European champions France and Afrobasket Women winners Senegal in Group B.

If the Greeks manage a top-three finish and progress to the Eight-Final Round, they will go up against the three teams that emerge from a Group A that includes Belarus, Canada, China and world champions Australia.

Four sides from the Eight-Finals will advance to the Quarter-Finals.

“I really can't make a prediction about the World Championship,” Greece’s Stella Kaltsidou said to FIBA.com.

“We have never played (in it) before so we don't have the experience.

“The first thing is to have all the players healthy.

“We all have a big motivation so the only thing that I can say is that we will do our best and that everybody will pay attention to Greece.”

It was impossible not to pay attention to the Greek women last year when the remarkable Evina Maltsi, the EuroBasket Women MVP, led the team to a fifth-place finish in Latvia.

The sight of the players dancing in the middle of the Arena Riga court after their 60-56 come-from-behind win over Italy, a result that sealed a spot in the Czech Republic, was unforgettable.

“The biggest lesson from the EuroBasket is that when you believe in something a lot and you work hard for it, you can achieve it,” said Kaltsidou, who competes for Bourges in France’s top flight.

“You have to make small targets, never give up on your dreams and fight until the last moment.

“The most important thing is every time to feel that you did your best at the end, no matter the result.”

FIBA