01 September, 2016
30 April, 2017
Viktor Sanikidze
09/10/2016
News
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Aris suffer blow with injury to unlucky Sanikidze

THESSALONIKI (Basketball Champions League) – Saturday night looked set to be a joyous occasion for Group A contenders Aris BC but instead players and fans of the Thessaloniki side left the Nick Galis Hall in no mood to celebrate their 75-65 win over BC Trikala in the premiere of the Greek A1 Basket League.

In a chilling incident during the final minutes of the game, Aris’s Viktor Sanikidze went down and almost immediately it became apparent he was unable to get up from the floor. The medical tests to which the 30-year-old Georgian international was submitted during the course of the night revealed that he suffered a rupture in his right knee. The versatile forward underwent surgery in the early hours of Sunday and is expected to be sidelined for at least six months, Aris announced in a statement.

“We are being called to manage a situation created by a very serious injury,” Aris head coach Dimitris Priftis commented. “But such circumstances are part of sport and we have no option but to deal with it. When we saw the player leaving the court on a stretcher, we all knew this could only be a serious injury.”

When Aris agreed terms with Sanikidze a little over a month ago, many considered it the key move that finalized an already strong roster which aims at being a serious contender in Group A of the Basketball Champions League.

The experienced forward was at the time involved in the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers campaign with his national team and, as usual, delivering great performances as he contributed 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in Georgia’s successful bid to secure a spot in the big tournament.

Sanikidze, a former Virtus Bologna, Montepaschi Siena and CAI Zaragoza player, was coming off a superb season at Optimum TED Ankara, with which he averaged 12.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists in the Turkish BSL league last season.

Aris play their opening game in the Basketball Champions League Regular Season on Tuesday 18 October, when they travel to Slovenia to take on Helios Suns Domzale.