Panathinaikos has punished their players for a poor performance against Fenerbahçe in the Euroleague basketball playoffs yesterday by forcing them to return home by bus to Athens from Istanbul, instead of a usual scheduled flight.
Team boss Dimitris Giannakopoulos canceled the scheduled flight back to Athens yesterday and instead hired a coach bus for the 11-hour, 1097-kilometer (682-mile) return home from Istanbul. Giannakopoulos had promised his players a bonus of 250,000 euros ($272,000) to be divided amongst them if they had reached the Final Four of the Euroleague.
"We were not worthy of qualifying for the Final Four. In a series the best team usually wins and Fenerbahçe was better. They were worthy of being congratulated. We have to take self-criticism, get serious and take the Greek championship," Giannakopoulos said.
