Dikoudis out for Greeks

Dimos Dikoudis decides to take a break (Photo credit: FIBA)Photo Gallery>>Much has been said about the withdrawals from Brazil's team and now their Group A opponents Greece are starting to have a long absentee list.

Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis will not have Dimos Dikoudis this summer after the big man's announcement he will instead rest.

The decision means four players from the Greek sides that won gold at EuroBasket 2005 and silver at the 2006 FIBA World Championship will be missing from the team that goes after one of three places for the Beijing Games at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens.

Nikos Hatzivrettas said after the bronze-medal game defeat at EuroBasket 2007 to Lithuania that he would skip this year while giant center Lazaros Papadopoulos of Real Madrid recently pulled out.

Yannakis left Michalis Kakiouzis, the man who had captained the National Team in recent campaigns, out of his preliminary squad.

Dikoudis revealed he was pulling out on his website, www.dimosdikoudis.com, but stopped short of saying he was retiring from the national side.

"After thinking about it a lot, during the season, and also after the end of the championship, I came up with the decision not to participate in this year's effort of the national team," Dikoudis said.

"Being part of the national team is and always will be the highest honor of all.

"I always tried to help with all my strength. This year, the time for rest between the end of the championship and the beginning of the preparation with the national team is limited.

"This situation, in addition to the fact that I was playing consecutively all these years, led me to the decision to rest this summer, so that I can prepare in the best possible way for the next season of my career.

"I hope and I believe that people will understand this decision of mine. I wish my team-mates and the coaching staff all the best and I am more than sure that they'll come back from Beijing with yet another success for Greek basketball."

Greece are in Group A with Brazil and Lebanon at the qualifying tournament.

(Credit: FIBA. Click here for further information.)