Nikos Zisis

Any issues that have arisen in recent hours are being set aside; everyone is putting on their best smile as we count down to the opening ceremony, which also marks the start of the Olympic Games.

AEK wasted a glorious chance to make a second consecutive Basketball Champions League Final Four and will have to relinquish its crown after crashing out to Bamberg in the tournament's quarterfinals on Wednesday.

The Greek team won 69-67 on the night at the Nick Galis Hall in Athens, but this was not enough to overturn its four-point deficit from the first leg in Germany.

Greece completed its qualifying campaign for the 2019 World Cup finals with a 69-63 victory in Germany on Sunday, topping its group and looking forward to getting seeded in next month's draw for the finals in China.

Olympiakos has sealed a play-off spot and is almost certain to clinch home advantage in the process that leads to the Euroleague Final Four after beating Bamberg on Friday, while Panathinaikos suffered a third consecutive reverse, this time at Real Madrid on Thursday.

Home advantage counted for Greece's representatives in the Euroleague, with Olympiakos making it two out of two and Panathinaikos scoring its maiden win for the season in Europe.

The Greens faced Germany's Bamberg and were in the lead for virtually the entire game at the Olympic Sports Hall in Athens to win 93-83 on Thursday.

Fenerbahçe Ülker edged Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 74-75 in overtime on April 20 to sweep the Turkish Airlines Euroleague best-of-five series and clinch a ticket to Madrid for the 2015 Final Four. 

The Istanbul club, which made the job against the defending champions look easy, will make its first ever Final Four appearance May 15-17. 

Two Turkish clubs will be out to continue their bids to advance in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague tonight in the sixth round of Top 16 clashes.

Fenerbahçe Ülker returns home to Istanbul to play visiting Laboral Vitoria, while Emporio Armani Milan hopes to snap its two-game home losing streak when it hosts Anadolu Efes.

By George Georgakopoulos

Olympiakos extended its perfect record in the second round of the Euroleague with a 74-68 triumph at Fenerbahce in Turkey on Friday, while Panathinaikos produced one more emphatic home win, this time over Zalgiris Kaunas with a 77-58 score.