Another Panathinaikos's player tested positive for COVID in the tests that took place today. Currently, only five players from the Greek side stay healthy.
Yesterday (December 30), the EuroLeague decided the postponement of the Panathinaikos-Zalgiris game roughly two and a half hours before tip-off and while the Lithuanian squad was almost on its way to the OAKA Arena.
Panathinaikos Athens / Schedule
Panathinaikos Athens
Zalgiris Kaunas
ALBA BerlinOverall, Panathinaikos have announced four cases among their members since Thursday afternoon. Eight players and three staff members have been infected so far, raising the total number to 11.
As such, next week's EuroLeague Round 19 showdown against ALBA in Berlin looks unlikely to take place.
"We're like a moving bomb, a hotbed, and we are going through a very bad period regarding the coronavirus," Panathinaikos GM Giorgos Kalaitzis said yesterday.
"We are going through a period of COVID rush when everything will have to "freeze". We should let this wave pass and from that point on, continue with a denser schedule, but with teams that can be competitive.
Panathinaikos fielding 8 players to play a full team is a bad spectacle for the fans and for what we serve," the 45-year-old executive pointed out.
"All this constitutes tampering. I express dissatisfaction and grievance because until now EuroLeague's treatment has been "by the book" and the human factor is not calculated. We at Panathinaikos have become covid managers and I am glad that we have managed to protect the team and the health of the players. That's what we put first."
Asked whether there is a proposal to reduce the players' quarantine time, Kalaitzis said that next week, the issue of the protocol will be discussed in a meeting of all Euroleague club delegates.
"I imagine that like all countries in the world, EuroLeague will reduce the time of quarantine. But this does not mean that an athlete who tests negative, pushes a button and comes back as if nothing happened. It takes days of adjustment.
Based on the evidence that we have on the "Omicron" mutation, if an athlete stays out for 5-6 days, he still needs 4-5 days to return. The calendar will be tight, but that's what all these players are for," Kalaitzis concluded.
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