Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks’ superstar, was unable to compete in the 2024 NBA Playoffs owing to a calf strain received at the end of the regular season. Antetokounmpo’s declining durability has been a cause of frustration for some, as he missed the second consecutive postseason due to injury. After the Bucks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, the two-time MVP said that he “(has) to do a better job of taking care of (his) body.”
“Maybe I need to change my game,” he reflected. “…I’m eager to do anything to be on the court and not disappoint my teammates.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo Makes Surprising Decision Following Late Season Injury.
Given those words, it’s reasonable that he’s hesitant to commit to Greece this year. However, Antetokounmpo “will be present with the national team in the Olympic Games qualifiers,” revealed Greek national team head coach Vassilis Spanoulis, according to Eurohoops’ Johnny Askounis.
Antetokounmpo has represented Greece on multiple occasions. He competed at the junior level in the 2013 U20 Euro Championship A. The next year, he was promoted to the Senior Team and competed in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the 2015 EuroBasket Tournament, the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in Italy, the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the 2021 European World Cup Qualifiers, and the 2022 Eurobasket Tournament. He has played 40 games for the Greek national team, including 30 at the senior level.
Breaking out the Olympic Games qualifiers.
The 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament will take place from July 2-7. Greece will face the Dominican Republic on July 3 and Egypt on July 4. A top-two finish in Group B would result in a single-elimination semi-final against Croatia, Slovenia, or New Zealand from Group A. If Greece wins their semifinal match, they will meet either the other top-two finisher from Group B or the top-two finisher from Group A in the Finals.
These three teams will also compete in Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, although in separate ones. While Greece plays at home in Piraeus, Poland and the Bahamas will compete in Valencia, Spain. Their opponents will be Finland, Lebanon, Angola, and Spain. Montenegro will compete in the Olympic Qualifiers held in Riga, Latvia. Their opponents are Brazil, Cameroon, Georgia, Latvia, and the Philippines.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo will play in the Olympic qualifiers for Greece.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks’ superstar, has confirmed his participation in the forthcoming FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, despite suffering a season-ending calf injury in April that prevented him from playing during the Bucks’ playoff run.
This move may surprise some fans, considering Antetokounmpo missed a significant amount of postseason time due to injury for the second consecutive year, and fans had thought he would focus on healing and preparation for the 2024-25 NBA season.
However, Antetokounmpo will now return to the floor, leading Greece in their quest to qualify for the Olympics in Piraeus.
Antetokounmpo’s Accolades Before the Olympics
Antetokounmpo became the third player in NBA history to average 32-plus points, 13-plus rebounds, and 7-plus assists while shooting 55 percent from the floor in a 10-game run in January. This placed him in the company of Nikola Jokic and Wilt Chamberlain.
Antetokounmpo averaged a career-high 31.6 points per game on 61 percent shooting. He also set a team record for most points in a game last season, scoring 64 against the Indiana Pacers. His 48 points against the Houston Rockets marked his second consecutive 40-plus point game and sixth of the season.
Antetokounmpo now surpasses Abdul-Jabbar’s Bucks record, although the famous center did it twice more with the Los Angeles Lakers, for a total of 20 games with 45 or more points.
The 2024 FIBA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will feature 24 national teams, with the top teams earning a spot in the 2024 Summer Olympics basketball event. They are slated for July 2–7, 2024, in Greece, Latvia, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments feature the 16 best-placed non-qualified teams from the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, as well as the three highest-ranked countries in each region according to the FIBA World Ranking.
The five other teams were decided via the Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ leading player has previous international experience ranging from the U20 level in 2013 to the senior level, having competed in the 2014 and 2019 FIBA World Cups, the 2015 and 2022 EuroBaskets, and the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Turin. The approaching challenge relates to the OQT, which will be conducted in Greece.
Hosting Greece faces the Dominican Republic on July 3 and Egypt on July 4 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, SEF. Ranking first or second in Group B of the preliminary stage would progress the Spanoulis-led squad to a single-elimination game against Croatia, Slovenia, or New Zealand in the Semifinals. Reaching the Final provides an opportunity to secure one of the six Olympic Games berths available.
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Greek boxer Katzourakis advances to the semi-finals of the OTX tournament.
Andreas Katzourakis defeated Kudratillo Abdukakhorov by majority decision on Friday night in Houston, advancing to the next round of the OTX junior middleweight competition.
Katzourakis won the match by scores of 98-92, 96-94, and 95-95. The fight was the main event of OTX 7 and a quarterfinal clash in the 154-pound tournament at Red Owl Boxing Arena. With the victory, Katzourakis advances to the semi-finals, where he will play Robert Terry, who won earlier in the evening in the joint main event.
Speaking about his probable fight with Terry, Katzourakis said, “He has good boxing skills. I believe it will be a less difficult fight than Abdukakhorov.”
Katzourakis (13-0, 10 KOs) is originally from Athens, Greece, and now trains in Houston. He is regarded as one of the stars of OTX Boxing, and arrived to the battle amid applause and Greek flags waving in the arena crowd.
In contrast, Uzbekistan’s Abdukakhorov (20-3, 12KOs) entered as an underdog with minimal hype. Despite Katzourakis’ devoted following, local fans witnessed a difficult battle for their favorite boxer.
What happened during the Katzourakis fight?
Abdukakhorov was not playing around and nearly dropped Katzourakis in the second round as the Greek performed a full squat without hitting the canvas. Abdukakhorov’s strategic punching and deliberate onslaught bothered Katzourakis, who took a come-forward stance.
At the same time, Katzourakis seemed willing to let his opponent’s punches connect, possibly due to their lack of strength. “I don’t know if he was better than I expected or if it was harder for me to connect with some punches,” Katzourakis remarked after the battle.
Abdukakhorov previously lost a welterweight battle against pressure boxer Cody Crowley. By the fifth round, supporters were ecstatic as Katzourakis established his rhythm and appeared confident, throwing slick, strong combinations that altered Abdukakhorov’s fighting style.
Abdukakhorov’s combos lacked the ferocity they had earlier in the fight. Katzourakis appeared to be breaking down the Uzbek fighter, but in the seventh round, Abdukakhorov demonstrated another fluid round of boxing and prevented Katzourakis from landing huge shots, casting doubt.
Abdukakhorov appeared fatigued as Katzourakis pursued him until the final bell, with blood covering his left eye.
Abdukakhorov appeared dejected following the judgment, despite believing he had won. He has good grounds to protest the 98-92 score, which does not reflect the close character of the fight.
The Greek boxer made his professional debut in June 2018 at The Hangar in Costa Mesa, California, by knocking out Chukwuka Willis in the first round of a four-round fight. In only his fourth professional bout, Katzourakis faced former World Title challenger Walter Wright in Montebello, California.
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Greece to Launch a New Satellite Constellation.
Greece is preparing to launch its first state-owned satellite constellation to assist government agencies in collecting critical data for improved environmental monitoring, disaster response, and national security.
The 13 satellites, which cost 60 million euros, are being developed by Open Cosmos Aegean, a Greek offshoot of the UK corporation Open Cosmos.
What Will Greece’s Satellite Constellation Include?
The constellation will include three distinct types of spacecraft, including seven tiny LEO satellites equipped with multispectral and hyperspectral sensors for high-resolution Earth imaging of the whole Greek region. These will help Greece monitor the spread of marine contamination and provide farmers with accurate data to improve agricultural efficiency.
There will also be four thermal imaging satellites outfitted with specialized sensors. These satellites will give real-time data for fire monitoring, particularly at night when visibility is limited, dramatically enhancing firefighting efforts.
Finally, there will be two radar satellites. These powerful satellites will serve a national security purpose for Greece by assessing military installations and delivering information during earthquakes and floods. Their capacity to “see” through debris and determine flood depth will be immensely useful to disaster response teams.
The Greek government will pay for the cluster. The initiative, which is also backed by ESA, will complement the Atlantic Constellation, an EO project announced in November by Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
“Greece is making significant steps in space,” Dimitris Papastergiou, Greece’s digital governance minister, said in a statement. “By investing in both capacity-buying and capacity-building space programs, our aim is to stimulate local high-tech space industries, foster job creation, retain our skilled engineers and space experts in the country, and attract additional talent.”
Greece’s satellites will use on-board AI to accelerate data processing and will join Open Cosmos’ envisioned OpenConstellation, a vast fleet of tiny EO spacecraft shared by several customers. Open Cosmos intends the OpenConstellation to be the “largest shared infrastructure in space.”
Greece has promised to making data from its new constellation available to better disaster response and environmental monitoring around the world.
Open Cosmos was formed in 2015 with the stated goal of simplifying access to space via small satellites so that a wider number of organizations throughout the world might benefit from the wealth of satellite data to address their concerns.
Its first satellite was delivered in record speed while the company was only a few months old and had five employees. Since then, it has expanded into a multinational corporation with top talent from throughout the world, delivering innovative telecommunications, earth observation, navigation, and scientific satellites.
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George Logothetis’ Inspiring Speech at the Courage Awards
George Logothetis, Libra Group’s Executive Chairman, delivered an inspiring keynote speech at the inaugural Courage Awards ceremony in Panama City.
Logothetis referred to the Awards as the “equivalent of the Nobel Peace Awards for Courage.”
They were founded in March of this year by The Washington Oxi Day Foundation, in collaboration with Libra Philanthropies. The awards, titled “It Takes Courage,” are intended to recognize ordinary acts of daring by unsung heroes around the world.
“For those invisible aspirations, ideals, virtues that humankind strives for, it takes courage” , remarked Logothetis. “However, only through example can courage be conveyed, shared, and instilled. We need to learn, absorb, and be motivated by others.
He emphasized that the world requires a boost of courage because there is so much to be afraid about. He emphasized climate change, attacks on democracy, and the rise of direct war.
“But the first step against the fear is to have the courage not to be afraid of being afraid,” Logothetis stated.
“How should we respond to something? With despair or hope? With caution or courage? With pessimism or optimism? Optimism is not a term typically associated with courage. However, I believe this is the root of the courage tree. “Nothing is fateful in this world except the loss of life or hope,” he said.
Logothetis: Optimism is the vanguard of courage.
“If you don’t believe that good can triumph over evil, or kindness can triumph over meanness, or that tomorrow will be better than today, there is no cause for courage to manifest itself. There’s no cause to respond, rise, or resist. “Optimism is the vanguard of courage.”
Logothetis provided the example of the Panamian Foundation Voces Vitales, which operates Centro Las Claras in Felipillo. Libra supports the Foundation, which provides emotional support as well as practical training to teenage mothers.
He complimented Gisela Alvarez de Porras, the Foundation’s chairperson, hailing her as a heroine for countless suffering souls.
“Her visible optimism, which believes in the invisible potential of these young mothers, gives her the courage to face the challenges she faces every day.” Her bravery inspires action, which leads to possibilities, and possibilities lead to progress, which leads to a brighter future. Logothetis emphasized that Gisela and Voces Vitales had inspired all of these girls to dream.
He noted that courage has two dimensions: instant and enduring.
“First, there is a spontaneous response to save, rescue, and put oneself in harm’s way for the benefit of another. A response to danger, a heroic reflex. The second dimension is lasting. Suffering for years for a just and noble cause. Supported by a sense of purpose and hope.
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