In Brief
Shoulder injury hampers Baghdatis in Melbourne Marcos Baghdatis’s shoulder injury did not allow him to progress further than the third round of the Australian Tennis Open in Melbourne on Saturday as he had to quit the match with local favorite Lleyton Hewitt halfway through. The Cypriot player, who had beaten Hewitt a few days earlier in Sydney, dropped out having lost the first set and trailing 4-2 in the second. Reports suggest Baghdatis had stretched his shoulder to its limit when he staged a remarkable comeback to beat Spain’s David Ferrer 3-2 from 2-0 down in the second round. National water polo team faces Croatia The men’s national water polo team will test its strength tonight (8 p.m.) against one of the top sides in the world as it hosts Croatia for the third round of games in the group stage of the World League. With one win in two games, Greece stands second in the group, but Croatia is the hot favorite to win and qualify. Greece considers the World League games as preparation for the qualifying round of the European Championship. So far it has lost to Russia and beaten the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Stelios-Sydney Former soccer international Stelios Giannakopoulos is close to continuing his career at A-League side Sydney Olympic, according to the chairman of the Australian side. Reports suggest that the Greek midfielder is going to Sydney for a trial period of five games and will net $20,000 per match. The Euro 2004 winner ended his contract with Larissa in November and has not agreed a deal with another club in Greece. Cycling Ioannis Tamouridis has won the UCI Track World Cup trophy, the first time a Greek cyclist has achieved such a feat. The 30-year-old from Thessaloniki finished top of the standings, with an advantage of two points, after the fourth and final leg of the series in Beijing last Friday to claim the cup. Separately, Zafeiris Volikakis has qualified for the World Championship in Copenhagen in March after ending eighth in Beijing.
