SPORTS

In Brief

Davis Cup promotion for Greek tennis team After the success of the women’s national tennis team in the Fed Cup, Greece gained promotion to Division II of the Europe/Africa Zone of the Davis Cup after seeing off Georgia in the all important playoff on Saturday at the Olympic Tennis Center in Athens. Greece beat Georgia 2-1 after topping its group in which Albania, Montenegro, San Marino, Moldova and Armenia were also competing. The crucial encounter with Georgia was a tough one but Greece’s Constantinos Economidis and Theodoros Angelinos won the first couple of matches in the tie-breaks, to secure promotion for coach Giorgos Kalovelonis’s national team. «We deserved to go up, as we won all six encounters in the tournament. We have a very good team that can go even higher,» said a proud Kalovelonis. Four medals for Greece in tae kwon do Europeans Greek athletes secured four medals at this year’s European Tae Kwon Do Championship in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but failed to win a gold. Two-time silver Olympic medallist Alexandros Nikolaidis could do no better than third in the +84 kilogram category on Saturday, losing in the semifinals to Azerbaijan’s Tavangul Bayramov. Marios Tsourdinis also won bronze in the -58 kg category, but there were also two silvers: Nikos Tzellos was second in -80 kg, while Margarita Michailidou lost in the final of the -62 kg category. Rugby title Athens Rugby won its fifth consecutive national rugby championship after beating host Rhodes Colossi 17-15 in the final on the Dodecanese island on Saturday. The Rhodes club started off the better team with a 12-0 lead but the Athens side was not to be denied this season. Volleyball Both Greek teams will take part in the volleyball Champions League after all, despite the initial reluctance of champion Olympiakos and cup-winner Panathinaikos due to financial problems. Olympiakos won the final series with a 3-1 score, defeating Panathinaikos 3-1 in game 4 on Thursday. Soccer promotion Olympiakos Volou and Kerkyra have been promoted to the top flight in soccer after the end of the regular season in the Greek second division. OFI Crete, Ethnikos Piraeus, Panserraikos and Pierikos will fight it out for the last promotion spot in the playoffs,starting on Sunday.

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