In Brief
First handball trophy in AEK’s short history AEK won the Greek Cup in handball on Sunday after one of the closest ever finals in the competition’s history. Having beaten Diomidis Argous in Saturday’s semifinal, AEK faced Philippos Verias in the final at Serres. The match was extremely close, ending 27-27 after regular time and going into extra time. Philippos led 30-28 toward the end of extra time but AEK managed to get back on level terms (30-30) and force a second extra time. AEK proved stronger in this second period and won 33-31, to lift the club’s first trophy in all sports since 2002. It was also the first trophy for AEK’s handball division, which was set up only four years ago. Greek volleyball narrowly misses out on Worlds The national volleyball team failed to reach the finals of the 2010 World Championship as it went out by just 12 points. In the qualifying group held last week in Portugal, Greece scored two wins out of four games, beating Denmark and Romania but losing to Slovenian and Portugal. As many as five of Greece’s 12-man squad were injured by the end of a long season, meaning coach Costas Arseniadis had only seven fit players to field. Greece’s goal now is the European Championship this September. Basketball Aris and Maroussi will fight it out at 5 p.m. tomorrow in Thessaloniki for the third place in the basketball league. After Maroussi’s 72-70 win on Saturday the best-of-five series is tied at 2-2. The winner of tomorrow’s fifth game will be Greece’s third team in the Euroleague. The other two are Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, who late last night were to play Game 4 of the finals. Philippoussis Australia’s former Davis Cup stalwart Mark Philippoussis is in dire financial straits and being sued for defaulting on loan payments for his house, the former top 10 tennis player told local media. The 32-year-old US Open and Wimbledon finalist said he was in the «toughest time» of his life, with a finance company seeking $1.3 million and possession of the Melbourne house he shares with his mother. (Reuters)
