As if Greece coach Ilias Zouros didn't have enough worries with players dropping out of his squad, he will now have to make do in the 2011 Eurobasket without center Sofoklis Schortsanitis, according to reports.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv superstar informed the coach and the federation on Tuesday he had to opt out of preparations for the European Championship that starts on August 31 in Lithuania for personal reasons.
Reports link his decision with a health problem his girlfriend is facing, although nothing has been officially confirmed yet.
"Big Sofo" had come close to missing this summer's preparation with the national team due to a problem in his eye, before eventually joining the squad at their training camp at Karpenisi.
Reports suggest that the federation will do everything possible to change his mind and have him offer his precious services to the already depleted national team in the tournament that concludes on September 18.
Greece are already without Dimitris Diamantidis, Thodoris Papaloukas, Panayiotis Vassilopoulos, Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Vassilis Spanoulis and Stratos Perperoglou for a variety of reasons.
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