In Brief
Wins for all the favorites in domestic volleyball Iraklis, Panathinaikos and EA Patras maintained their perfect records in volleyball this season. They share top spot with six points each from two games. Despite missing some top-pick players, Iraklis beat Milon 3-0 at home, while Panathinaikos saw off new boys Apollon Kalamarias 3-1 and EA Patras downed local Phinikas Syrou 0-3. Olympiakos won 1-3 at Lamia and PAOK beat Aris 3-2 in the Thessaloniki derby, played on Friday. Kifissia greets Ethnikos Alexandroupolis tonight. Three Greek clubs to continue in LEN Trophy Panionios finished third in its Euroleague qualifying group in water polo and will continue in the second-tier LEN Trophy, along with Vouliagmeni and Chios, which finished top of their respective qualifying LEN Trophy groups. Ethnikos finished fifth out of six teams in its Euroleague group and sees its European venture end for this season. Champion Olympiakos has already entered the next round of the Euroleague. Riot at women’s game Unexpected clashes between hardcore fans and the police marred the opening-round match between Panathinaikos and Esperides in women’s basketball. The home fans threw various projectiles onto the court and were repelled by police who later forced them out of the arena, only for the clashes to continue on the street. Champion Esperides won the game 47-55. Doukas’s heavy loss Greek handball champion Doukas suffered its third defeat in as many games in the Champions League, as it had no answer for the superiority of cup-holder Ciudad Real. The Greeks lost 21-42 at the Halkida Sports Hall and have seen all hopes of making the next round disappear. Markopoulo is through The Markopoulo women’s volleyball team advanced to the second round of Europe’s Challenge Cup, beating Cyprus’s Anorthosis twice. At home, it won 3-0 and in Larnaca it edged out its rival 2-3. Gymnastics Lefteris Cosmidis and Vassilis Tsolakidis won bronze medals in the weekend’s gymnastics grand prix in Glasgow.
