In Brief
Panionios and Vouliagmeni relegated to LEN Trophy Four Greek water polo teams will be in the next round of the LEN Trophy, the sport’s second-tier club competition in Europe, as PAOK and NO Patron advanced from the first group stage and Panionios and Vouliagmeni missed out on qualifying from their Champions League groups and so were relegated. Yesterday, in their last group games, Panionios lost 9-6 to Primorje Rijeka of Croatia to end up third in its group, while Vouliagmeni suffered its third loss in as many games, going down 9-8 to Budva of Montenegro. The draw for the next stage of the LEN Trophy will take place today in Luxembourg. Meanwhile champion Olympiakos, Greece’s sole remaining representative in the Champions League, is having serious financial problems and its future remains unclear at the moment. PAOK handballers bow out of Europe after loss to Bregenz Handball champion PAOK bid farewell to the EHF Cup with its second defeat in one week to Austrian side Bregenz. Having lost 31-23 at home, PAOK went down 27-24 in Austria on Saturday in the second leg of the tie and bowed out of Europe’s second-tier competition. In the Greek league Filippos Verias and Doukas maintained their impeccable records over the weekend, completing four wins in four games: Filippos beat AEK 34-28 at home while Athens club Doukas thrashed HANTH 38-27 in Thessaloniki. Boukouvala gold Judo champion Ioulietta Boukouvala won gold at the World Cup event in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday. Boukouvala, who finished third in the recent World Championship in Japan, scored four wins in four matches in the -57 kilogram category. World Cup events are important because they count toward qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games. Violidis quits Ilias Violidis, vice president of PAOK soccer club, announced his resignation yesterday, citing «decency reasons.» Violidis, a close associate of club president Thodoris Zagorakis, has been reported to be responsible for improper management of the club’s finances. Table tennis The women’s team of Tavros finished second in its qualifying group for the European Table Tennis Union Cup yesterday and advanced to the next round of the competition. The second group stage will take place on October 30-31.
