10th OPAP All-Star Game delivers spectacle and quality

The OPAP All-Star Game, under the slogan ‘PLAYING WITH RULES – LEADING WITH RULES’, made an impressive return, offering spectacle and quality to the thousands of spectators who packed Tassos Papadopoulos-Eleftheria indoor stadium on December 17, 2022. The 10th such event in a row, it proved it to be, once again, a great celebration of sport and life in our country.

The Cyprus Basketball Federation and OPAP Cyprus ensured the sporting, cultural and social dimension of the event, sending messages to do with correct road conduct, as well as the multiple benefits of sport. Even the surprise gifts offered to lucky spectators were related to road safety, constituting the mandatory kit for cyclists.

Meanwhile, the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra, also supported by OPAP Cyprus, performed in a demonstration of the  coexistence of sport and culture, adding colour to the 10th anniversary OPAP All Star Game. The cultural dimension was enhanced by the dancing skills of the young members of the Antigoni Tasouri Dance Academy.

Major protagonists in the sporting component of the event were top basketball players, men and women, competing in the OPAP Basket League, both in the traditional game, as well as the three-point competition.

Former Greek international Dimitris Diamantidis and Jorge Garbajosa, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation and a big name in the sport, having played for Real Madrid and the NBA, provided the jump-ball, accompanied by OPAP Cyprus CEO Demetris Aletraris and Cyprus Basketball Federation President Andreas Mouzourides

Of course, those who went beyond the logic of the sport with their tricks, drawing admiration and excitement among the spectators, were the world’s top basketball acrobats Crazy Dunkers.

But the applause of the spectators was also lavished on the Cypriot athletes who, with their distinctions, honour our country internationally. Their number included: Andreas Cariolou, Andri Eleftheriou, Kalia Antoniou, Nikolas Antoniou, Nicolas Vasiliou, Ilias Georgiou, Marilena Makri, Natasa Lappa, Panayiota Andreou, Nektaria Panagi. Through their own messages, they emphasised the broader symbolic character of the OPAP All-Star Game – I PLAY WITH RULES – I LEAD WITH RULES.

Thereafter, OPAP Cyprus CEO Dimitris Aletraris, fulfilled a wish made by 11-year-old Georgiana Trakosii, who, suffering from nephroblastoma, underwent long and painful chemotherapy treatments, yet came out victorious in life. Georgiana, who loves basketball, even participating in the Strovolos Keravnos team, is to travel to Paris and EURO DISNEY, along with the other children of the Association, in the summer of 2023.

The OPAP ‘Neophytos Chandriotis’ award was presented to Cyprus’ sports academies, also supported by OPAP Cyprus, given the huge successes of Cypriot athletes – male and female students – at the 19th World Gymnastics Games held in Normandy in May 2022, returning with a haul of 12 medals: three gold, six silver and three bronze.

The OPAP ‘Neophytos Chandriotis’ award was established in memory of the island’s eponymous international basketball player and outstanding student, who died aged 22 on December 1, 2015 in a Boston hospital, after battling cancer. There to give out the award, as he has done each year, was his father, educator Dimitris Chandriotis.

Former President of the Cyprus Basketball Federation and current Cyprus Olympic Committee President, George Chrysostomou, was also honoured as the inspiration behind the All-Star Game, an event that has now been held for a milestone decade, with the cooperation and support of OPAP Cyprus.

Popular radio producer and journalist, Petros Polychronidis, as well as host of the TV game ‘Wheel of Fortune’, provided coverage of the game, assisted by Savvas Koshiaris and Irodotos Miltiadous.

OPAP Cyprus expresses its thanks to the thousands of spectators who, once again, flooded Tassos Papadopoulos-Eleutheria stadium, and who, with their love, made the event a salute to sport and life.