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Thanos follows his dream and his passion

09/21/2013

Published by frits bakker

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© © Kozoom/Harry van Nijlen
Thanos Athanasiou and his daughter Elena in the Peloponnesos ranch

PELOPONNESOS – The man on a mission or the man who wants to rescue Greek billiards. Thanos Athanasiou, 55-year-old Greek from Athens, who’s the main sponsor with IBT Hellas of the Peloponnesos World Cup, doesn’t hesistate. He wants to follow his dreams, his passion and give Greek billiards (but also international) a big boost.

Thanos played already billiards when he was thirteen, he did some basketball and swimming in between, but most of all developed in his younger years with an economic education, went to university and then stepped into the tough business world.
He built up his company buying cargo ships that sailed around in the Mediterranean see: first one ship, then two, three and now already eleven. ,,I started to continue the activities outside Greece when the crisis was coming up, with our headquarters in Zürich.’’
,,And now I say, I did my job, I can take my time. Elena, my daughter, is an excellent president of the company, Michalis is the vice president. I have worked very hard all my life and I can follow my passion now, my hobby. Three cushion is in my heart, from the first moment I was playing myself. For me, it as always been a magical sport.’’

Kozoom met the big boss of the World Cup in Greece, the great man behind Greek billiards and asked him for an interview at the terrace of the Ranch in Peloponnese.

Frits Bakker: How far had Greek billiards broken down, when you reached out to the federation?
Thanos Athanasiou: ,,I don’t think billiard was dead, but for sure it was sleeping. The federation was dying, players ran away and there was a bleak view into the future. Four years ago, I retired more or less as a businessman and handed over the company to my son and my daughter. The intention was to build up a new future, so we talked, with players and other people from billiards about how to start and to improve. I think we can look forward to the best time ever in Greek three cushion.’’

FB: What do you think about the first major tournament so far, organized under the flag of IBT Hellas. The World Cup is coming up to the final days, how are the reactions, how do you like it yourself?
TA: ,,We are satisfied with what we’ve done here so far. The man thing for me was to create a perfect billiard room. There are no complains about that and we can see a world class level. We can discuss the location itself, but to be honest, we tried to search for something new, the ranch is very special, we never saw an amviance like this in billiards, but of course we have to learn for the next tournament. The first major tournament is always the most difficult. We are willing to improve and try to find the ideal conditions for the upcoming years.’’

FB: Do you only want to focus on Greek billiards?
TA: ,,The organizations in Greece have priority for the time being, but we want to speak with the international federations as well, leading up to more organizations: more World Cups, the World championships for juniors, for ladies, two open European tournaments. We want to help billiards in general to give it a big boost. My dream is to make sure that people love our sport. And I dare to say that this sport needs people like me.’’

FB: How many people are involved with this World Cup organization? The federation is sleeping, you said yourself, so IBT Hellas is in charge with everything in this tournament?
TA: ,,We are with a very small club of five or six people. That’s good, for sure, to not make it too complicated. So indeed, we as the main sponsor and organizer, we are in charge with everything. It is a kind of family business: with Elena as the tournament director, Michalis as her right hand and I and a few people at the background. We do the organizational and financial matters: the accounts go to IBT Hellas, we receive and we pay.’’

FB : What can you say about Greek three cushion in reality?
TA: ,,Twenty years ago, we had twenty clubs with a total of around 200 members, now there are only two clubs which are really active. The crisis has touched our sport deeply, because of that the government does not put any money in our sport for the moment. As a result, many players have stopped. And we have build it up again. In a few years, luckily, we have been grown again. The club IBT Hellas has already two hundred members.’’

FB: You are walking around as a happy and contented man.
TA: ,,I really feel that something wonderful is growing in the sport which is in my heart and I'm so eager to give it a boost. So yes, I'm very happy, I walk around here with a great feeling. We are only at the start of a big project, but this is an amazing start for us, a World Cup in Greece with the all the world class players.’’
,,For the future of billiards, I would say, as the famous Martin Luther King did: I have a dream... I want to achieve that, with heart and soul.’’

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