Panathinaikos BC Superfoods and the top notch Toyo Tires officially presented their collaboration for the 2017-18 and 2018-2019 seasons at a press conference held at OAKA stadium on Friday (1/9).
Present in the panel was Panathinaikos head coach, Xavi Pasqual, Panathinaikos Superfoods Commercial Director, Aristides Christopoulos and head of marketing of Toyo Tires Europe, Mike Rignal.
First to speak was Mr. Aristidis Christopoulos, saying: "Good evening. As Panathinaikos, we are very proud of our partnerships with Leaders of their kind. We are delighted that these partnerships now include Toyo, which has been synonymous with quality and avant-garde for 45 years. Panathinaikos BC continues to invest in basketball and enjoys the fact that such companies are next to us. I welcome Toyo with the certainty that together we will go at the top. "
Then Mike Rignall spoke: "I am very excited to be here to announce our cooperation. My company, Toyo, was founded in 1945 and until then Panathinaikos was alredy 26 years old. Since 1945, Toyo has been a company that has grown to a 3 billion euro turnover and employing over 12,000 people. We are the 13th company in the world, 7th in the US and 5th in the Japanese market, but we want to grow even more in Europe. In order to achieve this, our goal was to find influential clubs in each country that will help us achieve it. In Greece, our partner Tenora Techniki advised us that we should invest in basketball. In this light Panathinaikos was the obvious choice as to which team we would choose. Our goal is that the name of Toyo is known in every household in the country and we think that Panathinaikos is the team that can help us achieve it.
I am a British and as we know in England we do not play much basketball so I had to do some research. I saw that Panathinaikos is a very successful team, perhaps the most important and most succesfull in Europe, with 36 Championships, 17 Cups and six European trophies. My company manufactures some of the most advanced tires and we do that by investing in advanced technologies. We see that the same values exist in Panathinaikos, a team that has had many successes, like last year with the winning of the Championship and Cup and wants to go even further in Europe. We are confident that our cooperation with Panathinaikos will make our company known to the largest number of people in the country. We are very happy and proud to be sponsors of Panathinaikos and we look forward to the coming season, "he said.
In a question to Toyo Tires Europe's Head of Marketing on what to judge the success of the co-operation, he replied: "What we expect from Panathinaikos is to continue doing what it does, trying to get better, that's the value of it Our company. Always try to become better. "
Finally, Panathinaikos Superfoods coach Xavi Pasqual said: "I am very happy to be here and share this moment with you, especially with our new partners. First of all, I want to congratulate the team for this collaboration with Toyo, which is now part of the family. I know Toyo since I was in Spain. It is synonymous with growth and constant evolution. They always try to be a leader in what they do, and so I think we share the same values. So I welcome the company to our family, we hope to have the same success as when they started to be Leicester's sponsors who, against all odds, managed to get the Championship in Premiership. We hope against every prognostic to put the seventh star on our shirt. Thank you all and welcome. "
Asking whether we should expect a faster team this year, the Catalan coach replied: "First of all, we should thank all the ... tires we used last year. Both those that continue with us and those that do not. We should thank them for their efforts. Now we have some new tires, we have to adapt them and manage to have a homogenous result, a final vehicle. Last year we were very fast, more than the majority of opponents and this year we will try to be even faster. "
In a question about Thanasis Antetokounbo, Mr. Pasqual said: "I think he has a very specific role in the National Team and I believe that with this role he will not disappoint anyone. We hope it works well and we are excited while expecting him to come and work with us as soon as possible. And of course to help him become even better, but also to help us become better. "
Asked about who he would support if Greece and Spain confront Eurobasket, he replied: "First of all, we do not know whether they will be confronted. And if that happens, you will not be able to ask me (laughter was heard). I wish all the players to go well and every success in the Greek National Team. "
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