In Brief
Five more Greeks go to Euro Track & Field Championships Costas Douvalidis, Stella Papadopoulou, Gogo Kokloni, Afroditi Skafida and Spyros Lembesis added their names to the Greek squad participating in the European Championship in track and field this August in Barcelona courtesy of their performances at the National Championship held during the weekend in Patra. Douvalidis had an impressive 13.52 seconds in 110 meters, Papadopoulou won the hammer throw with 70.80 m, Kokloni clocked 11.24 in the qualifying round of 100 meters, Lembesis measured 81.78 m in the javelin and Skafida cleared 4.40 m in pole vault. Yesterday, Athanasia Perra, who has already qualified for Barcelona, confirmed her good form, winning the triple jump with an effort at 14.57 m, one of the best performances of the season in Europe. Women top their World League group in water polo The national women’s water polo team is topping its World League group after the first half of the fixtures held in Athens over the last few days. Greece has 11 points after three comfortable wins over the Netherlands, South Africa and France, and a victory in the penalty shootout over Spain (16-14) yesterday. Greece is two points ahead of the Netherlands and four ahead of Spain, who is third. The top two teams qualify to the finals of the competition. The second half of the games will be held at Nancy in France on June 16 to 20. Kavala manager Dragan Okuka is the new manager of Kavala, the Macedonian soccer club announced yesterday. The 56-year-old Serb signed a two-year contract with the Super League side and stated: «I am very happy to have come to Kavala, a side that last year played a leading role in the Greek league. I wish to thank [chairman] Stavros Psomiadis for his trust in me and I want to state that I will do all I can so that Kavala can be a protagonist again.» Former Panionios coach Ewald Lienen is reportedly close to joining Olympiakos. Volleyball losses Greece had two defeats in as many European Volleyball League games in Portugal over the weekend. The national team lost both games 3-2, despite two good performances at Povoa de Varzim. Final splash Olympiakos and Panionios are entering the final series tonight for the title in the men’s water polo league. Game 1 of the best-of-five finals is taking place at 7 p.m. in Piraeus, Olympiakos’s home.
