In Brief
Athinaikos hosts Euro champs Sparta & K Greek women’s basketball champion Athinaikos is hosting European champion Sparta & K Moscow Region tonight at 7 p.m. for the European Super Cup. Athinaikos, holder of the Eurocup, is the underdog against last season’s Euroleague winner but is sure to give the Russian side a run for its money. The host, playing in Maroussi, has plenty of confidence after finishing last season unbeaten in Greece and beating another Russian side, Nadezhda Orenburg, in the Eurocup final. Home advantage may help coach Yiannis Ktistakis’s players challenge the holder of the Super Cup, in what is only the second version of the event. Gekas becomes top scorer in the German league Fanis Gekas has risen to the top of the scorers’ chart in Germany’s Bundesliga soccer championship after scoring twice yesterday for Eintracht. The Frankfurt side defeated Kaiserslautern 3-0 away with the former Greece striker scoring his side’s first and second goal. Beam let-down Nervousness got the better of Greek female gymnasts, preventing the national team from advancing to the final of the team event at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship that started on Saturday in Rotterdam. Stefani Bisbikou and Vasiliki Milousi committed mistakes at the beam that canceled out the team’s great efforts in the first three events (floor, bars and vault). Different derby Olympiakos faces Panathinaikos tonight in women’s volleyball in both teams’ opening game in the new league. The two title rivals are considerably different from last season and the game will likely be finely balanced. Sailing European Tornado champions Iordanis Paschalidis and Costas Trigonis added one more national championship gold medal to their rich collection, finishing first yesterday in Thessaloniki. Hospitalized Olympiakos and Greece soccer striker Costas Mitroglou was admitted to a Piraeus hospital yesterday due to a tonsil problem. He is set to stay in for about 48 hours.
