GRE - Spanoulis proud of his commitment to Greece

ATHENS (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Vassilis Spanoulis has set his sights on the final four at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Greece took silver in Japan four years ago, and Spanoulis wants to collect a medal once again.

"Our goal is the Final Four and a medal," Spanoulis said. "This is a long-time goal. But we know from the beginning we have to look at each game individually. But we should not be afraid or hide. We should not be afraid to tell the truth: we have lofty goals.

"We have shown in the past that Greece is one of the best teams in the world. We want to make Greece proud again."

Last year, Greece took bronze at the EuroBasket in Poland, with Spanoulis emerging as a leader on the team.

With a very similar looking roster heading to Turkey, Spanoulis believes that can serve as a solid foundation for another medal run this time. "We know each other very well, we know what we want, we know the philosophy of the coach," he said. "We know what he wants, what he things, what he wants each of us to do, so everything gets easier."

This will be Spanoulis' seventh straight summer of national team service, but the 27-year-old has never once thought of taking a year out to rest. "Not for one moment," he said. "I am proud to be competing in the national team jersey. For me it is an honour to wear the jersey with the flag and it is significant when the team can give some joy to the world. That for me is not to be exchanged. We want to be here."

FIBA