PAO suffers volleyball loss at Iskra
Panathinaikos surrendered to the might of Russia’s Iskra in its opening game for volleyball’s Champions League in Moscow last night. Iskra won 3-0 (27-25, 26-24, 25-20) despite the strong resistance by the Greek team in the first couple of sets. «We played well in the first set but Iskra had an impressive Andrei Egortchev who scored four aces – he has never done that with Russia either,» commented Panathinaikos coach Alekos Leonis, a former coach of the Greece squad. «We are disappointed because we deserved better with such a performance,» he added. Greece’s other representative in the Champions League, Iraklis, enters the competition with a home game against Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia at 7.30 p.m. today. Also tonight for the CEV Cup, Olympiakos hosts Jastrzebski and Lamia visits SCC Berlin, while for the Challenge Cup, EA Patras travels to Dinamo Bucharest. In a thrilling league match on Monday evening, newly promoted Phinikas Syrou scored their second win of the season by beating visiting Kifissia 3-2, coming back from 0-2 down. The other results of Round 4 in the league were Panathinaikos 3, Milon 0; Iraklis 3, EA Patras 1; Olympiakos 3, Apollon Kalamarias 1; Lamia 3, Aris 0; and PAOK 3, Ethnikos Alexandroupolis 0. Iraklis and Panathinaikos lead the table each with a maximum 12 points, with Olympiakos and EA Patras following with nine.
