Disciplinary action considered

Olympiakos is through to Greek basketball finals but four players now face either fines or suspension

Sunday’s incident, in which seven players were ejected, was one of the many violent episodes that marred the Olympiakos-Panathinaikos series.

Greek basketball championships organizers were considering yesterday whether they should punish Olympiakos after its team members clashed with Panathinaikos players during a semifinal game.

The fight broke out five minutes before the end of the best-of-three game on Sunday night. Players from both teams started fist-fighting after a rebound was claimed by Panathinaikos center Lazaros Papadopoulos and Olympiakos’s French forward Stephane Risacher.

Panathinaikos was leading 68-66 at the time of interruption.

No one was injured in the incident.

The game, played on Olympiakos’s home ground, was resumed 20 minutes later only after the referees had ejected four Olympiakos and three Panathinaikos players.

The seven players are expected to be banned from at least one league game.

But the referees’ report said that private security guards were also involved in the fight, which could lead to the punishment of the home team.

The Piraeus club beat Panathinaikos 80-76 and thus, with two wins under its belt, advanced to the final. It will meet AEK Athens in a best-of-five series for the title.

Olympiakos’s victory signaled the end of four consecutive league titles by Panathinaikos, winner of the Euroleague trophy in Bologna, Italy, on May 5.

The game was played after being postponed three times.

Last week, five Panathinaikos players and one team assistant were injured when alleged Olympiakos supporters stoned a bus carrying the Panathinaikos team to the game.

Yesterday, an Athens court indefinitely postponed the trial of a fan accused of participating in the attack.

Costas Mochtouris, 38, was the only suspect arrested.

Police identified him as an employee of Intracom, a company of which Olympiakos President Socrates Kokkalis is the chairman.

The court said it had postponed the trial because a doctor’s report on the injured players had not been submitted, and because only one of the players had appeared to testify, court sources said.

Mochtouris had also been arrested last September along with 29 others during a riot after a Greek soccer league game between Olympiakos and AEK. He was released after the incident.

Court sources said a new trial could be set to take place in about six months’ time. (AP)