Thessaloniki, Greece, July 10, 2014.  Since the very first day they met (August 2008) they have been calling each other ‘brate’ (brother).  After all, the good-bye words of Andrej Urnaut to his younger brother Tine just before he started his journey to Greece as a player of Olympiacos PIRAEUS were:  "You will have a teammate Mitar, the son of a very good friend of mine and you can count on him as on a brother."

This is how the story of Mitar Tzourits and Tine Urnaut started out.  The opposite and the captain of Greece’s men’s team and the wing spiker of Slovenia’s men’s team, respectively, played as teammates only for one year, but they became best friends even spending holidays together, usually on the Greek islands.

During the following years they played on several occasions as opponents either in the Italian or in the Turkish leagues, but now they have to face each other for the semifinals of the 2014 CEV Volleyball European League - Men.

“It is not the first time that we will be on the court as opponents so I can say that we are used to this particular situation.  Every time we make a bet and the loser is paying for dinner.  The truth is that it has been a long time since Mitar paid the bill and I think it is time for him to pay again,” says Tine.  However, the Greek ‘brother’ disagrees:  “He has beat me only once, in the Italian league back in the 2011-2012 season, and after that I always enjoy free dinner.  If he thinks the time has come for me to pay again, we will find out soon.”

Beside the funny side of the story, Tzourits marked Slovenia as the favorite, not only for the semifinals, but also to win the tournament.

“They have a really good team with a lot of experienced players.  Meanwhile we are a new and very young team.  Our main goal was to qualify for the semis, but now ahead of us lies a new challenge and we will give our best to make it to the final.  I do not know the final outcome, but I am sure that my teammates and I we will fight for every single point.”

However, as Tine said, he and his teammates are not going to be fooled by the title of the favorite.

“We are preparing for two very difficult and close matches.  Our opponents form a team with fighting spirit and we must be concentrated from the first till the last point in order to achieve our goal.  We know Mitar is the most dangerous player of Greece, but he is not the only one.”

The first match of the semifinals is scheduled for Saturday, July 12, at 18:30 local time in Thessaloniki, and the rematch will be played in Maribor on Wednesday, July 16, at 20:00 local time.  Both games are scheduled for live streaming on LAOLA1.tv.

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