In Brief
Prosecutor to probe second-division game An Athens prosecutor has called for an investigation into a second-division soccer match held on November 15 between Ethnikos Asteras and Pierikos. The visitors won 2-1 but the suspicious betting pattern and the high number of bets placed on a Pierikos win have generated rumors about possible match-fixing, voiced publicly by the president of another B’ Ethniki side, Panserraikos, Petros Theodoridis last week. He also said at least one match every week is fixed, calling for a prosecutor to intervene. Now he is likely to become the first to testify. The game in question drew more bets that weekend than the Greece vs Ukraine World Cup playoff staged a day earlier in Athens, according to betting company Betfair. Fresh doping case in weightlifting The Hellenic Weightlifting Federation announced yesterday that one of the athletes who took part in the national championship staged at Litochoro earlier this year has tested positive for a banned substance. The name of the male athlete has not yet been released, pending the testing of his second sample. The news comes six months after the doping cases of champions Nikos Kourtidis and Constantina Lapou. Mantzios to Cyprus Reports from Cyprus suggest that Anorthosis Famagusta is very close to signing Panathinaikos soccer striker Vangelis Mantzios on a six-month loan. Mantzios, a Greece international had fallen out of favor with Panathinaikos and was placed on the transfer list last summer. LuaLua Soccer champion Olympiakos is set to announce today the return of its former striker Lomana LuaLua. The 29-year-old from Congo will likely sign a six-month contract with an option for Olympiakos for two more years. Meanwhile, Olympiakos has reportedly abandoned its effort to bring Marseille striker Hatem Ben Arfa to Greece and is considering other options.
