The Greek national volleyball team is breezing through the FIVB World Tour at Manly Beach, Sydney.
Vicky Arvaniti and Penny Karagkouni have been beating one team after another and are at the top of the rankings ahead of China, Japan and the United States.
They met with the United States team at 1.20pm on Thursday, playing against Brooke Sweat and Kerri Walsh Jennings. They won the game 2-1 (13-12, 21-16, 10-15).
Yesterday they had successfully defeated the Spanish team, and Australians.
Tomorrow they’ll meet Meimi Lin and Jin Jin Zeng, ranked second in the current games.
About the Greek team
Vicky was born March 17, 1985 in Athens, Greece. She who won the gold medal at the 2005 European Championships in Moscow, Russia and the 2007 European Championship in Valencia, Spain, partnering Vasso Karadassiou. She represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in her home town, with Thaleia Koutroumanidou. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed with Karadassiou. She took part in the 2012 London Olympics with Maria Tsiartsiani, who was later injured. Since 2013, her teammate has been Peny Karagkouni, who used to play indoor volleyball.
Penny was born in Athens and started playing for Iraklis Kifissias at the age of 6. She made her debut appearance in beach volleyball tournaments was in 2013, when she replaced Maria Tsiartsiani as Vicky Arvaniti’s partner. In her first season in beach volleyball, and despite being the new member of the team, she managed (with Vicky Arvaniti) to finish 5th in the finals of the European Championship held in Klagenfurt, Austria hosted by CEV. Her greatest achievement to date has been the silver medal she gained with Vassiliki Arvaniti at the XVII Mediterranean Games held at Mersin, Turkey.