I would like to extend a warm and cordial greeting to everyone on the occasion of today's Panhellenic High School Basketball Games, organised by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth of Cyprus, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs of Greece and the Municipality of Paphos. The Panhellenic Games are an established institution that promotes the values of school sports.
The Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth attaches great importance to all sports activities that take place within the framework of School Sports, such as the Panhellenic Basketball Games. Such events are considered particularly important, because they create opportunities for athletes from Cyprus and Greece to meet each other in a climate of fair play and respect, while bridging the common cultural and historical path of all Hellenism.
Once again we were given the opportunity to admire our athletes competing with sportsmanship and in terms of fair play for "Hercules' wild card", the coveted cotinus of victory. From classical antiquity to the present day, the values that sport cultivates - such as "fair play", the moral quality of the athlete and the peace and fellowship of people and nations - have adorned man and shaped his character.
These high values of the ancient Greeks for sport can also inspire our young people today. That is why school sport is an important part of the educational process, especially today, when phenomena of subculture and negative norms overwhelm our societies. Thus, school sport, on the basis of the President's Governance Programme of the President of the Republic, is becoming a basic means of educating young people.
I am glad that a city like Paphos, with an ancient history that refers primarily to Homer and the birth of the goddess Aphrodite, hosted the Panhellenic Games and gave the athletes from Greece the opportunity to compete with the athletes from Cyprus.
I am glad that a city like Paphos, with an ancient history that refers primarily to Homer and the birth of the goddess Aphrodite, hosted the Panhellenic Games and gave the athletes from Greece the opportunity to compete with the athletes from Cyprus. I would like to warmly congratulate the Mayor of Paphos who placed these games under his auspices and embraced them with great enthusiasm.
I would like to thank the Physical Education Office of the Secondary Education Directorate of our Ministry, the chairman and members of the Organizing Committee of the Paphos School Games, the Physical Education teachers and all those who contributed to the organization of the games. I warmly congratulate all those who competed, and especially the winners of the Games. I sincerely wish them to continue their involvement in sports and to have many successes.
Dear friends from Greece, as you leave our long-suffering island, Cyprus, I hope you take with you beautiful memories, both of the place and of its people. I hope that you will always remember your participation in the Panhellenic Games that took place here, and that the acquaintances you made will develop into beautiful and lasting friendships.
IP
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