China's Zhejiang Guangsha Lions beat the Greek basketball club ASK Karditsas 86-62 here on Monday to kick off their pre-season preparation for China's Basketball Association (CBA) league.

All the eyes were on the 34-year-old captain of Greece's national basketball team, Yiannis Bouroussis, who signed up with the Lions last year and had a great season to the CBA finals where they lost to the Liaoning Flying Leopards.

The Chinese basketball team decided to come to Athens for its preparation thanks to Bouroussis, as the team's coach explained.

"We have a great player and his name is Yiannis Bouroussis. He is a really famous guy in Greece. Last season he helped us a lot. We won the semifinals. Our purpose here is to learn," coach Li Chunjiang told Xinhua.

Yiannis Bouroussis said, "Usually, all the Chinese teams go to the US, but this year they chose to come here. They want to see how the European basket is."

As the Chinese basketball is evolving with huge potential and China looks to raise its level of international competitiveness, the Lions' coach noted, "Chinese basketball has a lot of distance from European and American basketball. American players focus on individual skills and Europeans focus on teamwork. European style fits our team a lot and that's why we come here."

After two weeks of intense trainings in the premises of OAKA, the Lions beat three local teams from the A2 Basket League which is the second-tier professional basketball in Greece.

Asked what his expectations for the new season are, Li eyes for the title.

For Bouroussis, who has managed to adjust very easily to the Chinese basketball style after a 16-year professional career in major basketball clubs in Greece and abroad, the first target is the playoffs.

"To succeed in the playoffs again. That is the target, which we did last year. We went to the finals. Let's do that and we will see what next," he said. 

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