WINNERS
Olympiacos have made it through to the third round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, after a dominant 4-0 win against Czech side Viktoria Plzen at the Georgios Karaiskakis. The red-and-whites maintained a high percentage of possession throughout the encounter and were able to create several opportunities in front of goal, yet were unable to make the most of them until early in second half. The team from Piraeus showed it hasn’t lost much of last season’s attacking flair, scoring four goals while not allowing their opponents to get anywhere near their own area. Despite captain Fortounis’ absence, this Olympiacos team demonstrated early signs of working as a unit and providing fans with high quality football. Will they survive in the competition? That will need to be answered next week, as they take on third round opponents Istanbul Basaksehir.
GREECE U-18 MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM
The young guns are showing their mettle in the U-18’s Eurobasket tournament that is taking place in Volos. Despite their heavy loss by France in day two of the competition (80-55), Giorgos Vlassopoulos’ players were able to bounce back and claim a very important win against Slovenia (72-54) on the final day of the group stage that kept their hopes of winning a medal intact. The team was scheduled to play Finland on Wednesday night and, should they have made it through, they would face the winner of the Serbia vs Lithuania tie in the quarter finals. Yet even making it this far is a huge accomplishment that proves the vast wealth of talent Greece has in the sport.
Greece has won its second Gold medal at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in the United States. Just one day after Christina Bourmpou and Maria Kyridou triumphed, setting a new fastest time in the Women’s Pair, Anneta Kyridou and Dimitra-Sofia Tsamopoulou won the gold medal in the Women’s Double Sculls, finishing on 7.04.20. Kyridou and Tsamopoulou shot into the lead from the beginning, but it was a tight final with Australia, Hungary, Germany and China. It soon turned into a battled between Greece and Australia, but the Greeks ended up being the best sprinters with a higher stroke rate. Australia came second with 7.07. 77, following by the Hungarians in third, with 7.11.68. “That was a really hard race for us,” said Kyridou after the race. “But we came here to win the gold which we’ve been training all year for. It was hard until the last stroke but we did it!”The championships were held in Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida.
SINNERS
MACK HORTON
In the same way that Shayna Jack could have been in this spot for her substance abuse, it is also appropriate for Mack Horton to be in this category for his position to condemn one of his fellow athletes that served his sentence and refuse to stand on the podium alongside him at the Guangzhou World Swimming Championships. An athlete is not a spokesman and there are rules and regulations that need to be followed. There are a number of things that athletes may not agree with but if they all take a stand against them during the games, then there will be no games at all.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS-NICK KYRGIOS
Even though they seemed to get along outside the courts (which is an oddity for Kyrgios), the truth is the two didn’t seem to work much inside of it. Losing hands down to the much more synchronised Colombian duo of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, 3-6, 6-3, 5-10, for the round of 16 of the Citi open in Washington DC, it was obvious that they had little to not preparation for the tournament. Perhaps the single’s games is where their focus was, it’s difficult to say, but at least Tsitsipas gained one more follower on Instagram!