In Brief
Historic triumph for Panionios in water polo Panionios achieved an historic qualification to the final four of the LEN Trophy in water polo, as it overturned its one goal deficit from its 10-9 loss to Posillipo in Naples, beating the Italian side 10-8 in overtime last night in Nea Smyrni. The Greek side had finished regular time leading by 8-7. Panionios reached the semifinals of a European competition for the first time in its history. Olympiakos is close to finishing top of its Euroleague group, following its 9-8 home win over Montenegro’s Primorac on Saturday. With two games left to play, the Greek champion is first on the table and has four points from four games. Boukouvala wins gold in Grand Slam event in Paris Two weeks ago Ioulieta Boukouvala had promised to win a gold medal in the Paris event of the Grand Slam series in judo and yesterday she kept that promise. The Greek champion won top honors in France, with five wins in as many matches in the 57-kilogram category. «Today I only competed for the top spot. I would not settle for anything else,» Boukouvala said with the gold medal hanging from her neck. This Grand Slam event, one of the four this season, counts toward qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Baghdatis loss Cypriot star Marcos Baghdatis could only get as far as the quarterfinals in the $500,000 tennis tournament in Johannesburg, as he succumbed to Spaniard David Ferrer, ranked No 13 in the world, in straight sets and missed out on the semifinals. Baghdatis is ranked 85th in the world. Calathes honor Greek-American hoopster Nick Calathes was chosen among the 30 best players in the NCAA American college championship. The 19-year-old Florida Gators guard is a candidate for NCAA best player, after leading his college to 19 wins in 23 games. Table tennis Kallinikos Kreanga earned himself the bronze medal in the 39th European Top-12 in table tennis yesterday. This was his third medal, after a bronze in 1999 and a silver medal in 2007.
