An Olympic gold medalist in Athens, Athanasia Tsoumeleka, finished second yesterday in the final of the Race Walking Challenge 2008 series being held in Murcia, Spain. Her time in the 20-kilometer walk was 1 hour, 31 minutes and 17 seconds, exactly 1 minute behind winner Susana Feitor from Portugal. The result left the Greek champion second in the competition’s overall table with 38 points, six behind Norway’s Kjersti Platzer. “I knew the course and how I should walk, and I am happy with the result,” said Tsoumeleka.

Olympiakos suffered two losses in as many games in the Kolossos Rhodes basketball tournament over the weekend, showing it needs plenty of work before it is ready for the October tipoff of the Greek league. On Saturday, the Reds lost 77-74 to Partizan Belgrade and 85-80 yesterday to Panellinios. The eagerly anticipated debut of former NBA player Josh Childress saw the Olympiakos superstar score 15 points in the first game and nine in the second.

Greece striker Giorgos Samaras once again showed excellent form, scoring twice yesterday for Celtic in the Glasgow giants’ 3-1 away win at Kilmarnock. The win consolidated the Greek’s position at the top of the scorers chart in the Scottish Premier League, with seven goals in five games.

Kifissia volleyball club will contest the final four of the Balkans Cup on the weekend of September 26-28 in Baia Mare, Romania, after defeating Romania’s Stiinta Explorari 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-17). “These games are good enough for our preparation for the league,” said coach Sotiris Drikos.

Vasso Karadassiou and Vicky Arvaniti lost in the third-place final of the European Masters tournament in Russia to Latvia’s Inese Jursone and Inguna Minusa. They finished fourth in this last tournament of the series.