Newly crowned Euro champions PAO return to hero’s welcome
Thousands of fans flocked to Athens International Airport on Monday afternoon to welcome home the players and staff of Panathinaikos Aktor after their 95-80 triumph in the EuroLeague basketball final in Berlin on Sunday over defending champions Real Madrid. The team was transferred by an open bus, accompanied by adoring fans on motorcycles and cars, to the OAKA stadium in northern Athens, the club’s home court, to take part in celebratory festivities and get showered with adulation. Coached by Turkish coach Ergin Ataman, the Greens won their seventh EuroLeague title, their first since 2011. Ataman won his third title as coach after guiding Turkish club Efes to back-to-back triumphs in 2021 and 2022, establishing himself as a legend of the game in his own right. [Nikos Halkiopoulos/InTime News]
