The 66th Panhellenic Sports Press Association Awards took place overnight, with tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas being named Best Male Athlete of 2019 and pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi claiming the Best Female Athlete title.
In the presence of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, the award ceremony took place on Monday evening at the Concert Hall, with Tsitsipas and Stefanidis taking top honours.
Pavlopoulos presented Tsitsipas’ award to his father and coach Apostolos, as Stefanos is currently away.
“I would like to convey to Stefanos that all Greeks agree that he is a great role model of excellence and he deserves this award. To achieve great things you need three things: talent, soul, hard work. I know how much you have worked together, and you did it. You have shown that the new generation has enormous potential and without hard work, you cannot succeed,” Pavlopoulos told Stefanos’ father.
The Main Winners for 2019 are as follows:
Top Male Athlete 2019: Stefanos Tsitsipas (Tennis)
Top Female Athlete 2019: Katerina Stefanidis (Track)
Top Team 2019: Olympiakos (Waterpolo)
Top Coach 2019: George Pomaski (Athletics)
Top Male Athlete with a Disability 2019: Demosthenes Michalentzakis (Swimming)
Top Female Athlete with a Disability 2019: Alexandra Stamatopoulou (Swimming)