136 Posts in Sports

The source added that the flame would not be put at the top of the Eiffel Tower, for technical reasons, and it was not clear whether it would stay on the monument throughout the Games but the combination of two such iconic images would be a dramatic backdrop to the July 26 – August 11 event. “It’s been a work in progress for the last two years now,” the source said. The flame cannot be at the top of the tower because of the antennas already installed there, they added.           “The venue for the lighting of the flame on the Opening Day of the Olympic Games has not yet been decided,” a Paris 2024 spokesperson told Reuters. They did not deny working on installing the flame at the Eiffel Tower and would not disclose when any announcement would be made. The flame will arrive in the port city of Marseille on May 8 by boat – the three masted tall ship “Belem” – after a 10-day journey across the Mediterranean from Greece.

Milena Kontou and Zoe Fitsiu won the silver medal in the lightweight double sculls. The Greek crew completed their final effort in 6:54.78, finishing behind the Great Britain crew of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant (6:52.32). The bronze medal went to the French Laura Tarantola and Claire Beauvais with a performance of 6:55.30. For their part, Petros Gaidatzis and Antonis Papakonstantinou won the bronze medal in the lightweight double sculls, as they completed their effort in the final in 6:15.99. The gold medal was hung around the necks of the Swiss Jan Schäuble and Rafael Achumanda Ireland with a performance of 6:13.81, who left the Italians Stefano Opo and Gabriel Soares in second place with a time of 06:15.06. Meanwhile, Stefanos Duskos qualified for the skiff final. The "golden" Olympic medalist of Tokyo finished second in the 2nd semi-final series with a performance of 7:00.28 and got the "ticket" for tomorrow's (28/5, 14:25) final, where he will claim a place on the podium. For the record, Duskos finished behind Germany's Oliver Scheidler, who completed his effort in 6:57.17. Finally, Evangelia Fragou ranked sixth in the 2nd semi-final of the skiff with 7:54.42 and got the "ticket" for tomorrow's (28/5, 11:28) final B.

The Hellenic capital last hosted a meeting of the European Confederation in September 2016, and Tuesday’s was seen as a vote of confidence in the Hellenic Football Federation​​​​.   UEFA is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as some Asian countries such as Israel, Cyprus and Armenia. Itconsists of 55 national association members.   The National Associations Committee deals with relations between UEFA and its member associations, in particular: a) development of UEFA's relationship with its member associations; b) problems within or between UEFA member associations; c) problems regarding applications for UEFA membership; d) cooperation with political authorities as well as cases of unwarranted political or other interference; e) advice and assistance to UEFA member associations on matters related to their internal organisation upon request; f) the organisation of workshops and seminars designed to improve standards of administration within UEFA member associations, in cooperation with other organisations; g) decisions on measures to be taken in order to solve problems arising within member associations affected by exceptional circumstances;  h) consideration of needs of UEFA member associations and strategies to be applied in this respect, such as the Top Executive Programme, as well as of recommendations of portfolio holders to the Executive Committee.

The match between the Greek champion, who is ranked No. 5 in the world, and the Italian tennis player (No. 19 in the world), ended at 02:43 Greek time, as due to the delay in the end of the previous matches, it started almost an hour after midnight .  The main reason for the delay of the match was the meeting of the Ukrainian, Angelina Kalininina (No. 47 in the world) with the Brazilian, Beatriz Haddad Maia (No. 15), which lasted three hours and 41 minutes and ended with a victory of the European tennis player with 6- 7(2), 7-6(6), 6-3. Fortunately for Tsitsipas, today is a day of rest, while tomorrow he faces Croatia's Borna Coric (No. 16 in the world).

The Greek tennis player, who managed to win the first set yesterday, took the second set today in the tie-break and won 6-3, 7-6 (3). Tsitsipas had the opportunity to "clean up" the second set and the match relatively easily, but, while holding his serve comfortably, he lost the opportunity to break in three different games. Sonego recovered and reached two bowl sets, at 5-4 and 6-5, but in both cases "Steph" "erased" them with winners and finally the set was taken to the tie-break. There Tsitsipas took the first two points, Sonego the next three and then the Greek champion with five consecutive points reached 7-3 and qualified. The next opponent of Stefanos Tsitsipas will be the winner of the match between the Italian Lorenzo Muzzetti and the American Francis Tiafoe.

The AEK-PAOK fixture is considered high risk for crowd trouble and has become a major headache for the Greek FA, which was in discussions with a Polish municipality and Cypriot authorities after failing to find a suitable stadium at home. Cyprus turned down a request to host the match citing public security concerns. In a statement on Friday, the Greek FA said that the match will take place in Volos but if this was not possible for any reason, the match will be held in Elbasan, Albania, on May 24 or the next available date.

The $16 million FIFA Fund for Football Players was created in 2020 with the FIFPRO player union. Some clubs were suspected of closing down to avoid paying salaries and then re-started anew as a “phoenix” operation. FIFA allocated $4 million to applications for financial help from the 2021 calendar year. The payments included 22 for players from Greek club Doxa Drama, plus 19 from CD Aves and 18 from Uniao da Madeira in Portugal. Cases in China came from Shanghai Shenxin, Beijing Renhe, Taizhou Yuanda and Guangdong South China Tiger. “Given that it’s deeply frustrating for players not to receive their salaries, we’re pleased that the FIFA (fund) is again providing them with a safety net to ensure that they receive part of what they are owed,” FIFPRO legal director Roy Vermeer said in a statement. FIFA said 1,370 players have been helped by the fund, and $4 million has been set aside for a final cycle of applications through 2022.

Philatelists are constantly arriving from every corner of Attica and are preparing for the second "party" which is scheduled for 2 after midnight at "Eleftherios Venizelos". At that time, the flight with the Union mission is returning from Thessaloniki, after the victory (2-1) against Aris, which sent the team to +3 from Panathinaikos, one game before the end of the season. All this atmosphere foreshadows what will follow on Sunday (14/5) in the match against Volos at the OPAP Arena, where the Athletic Union of Constantinople will be formally crowned champions of Greece 2022/23, adding the 13th title to their trophy case.

With the window of opportunity narrowing for the trophy match between AEK Athens and PAOK Thessaloniki, the federation has been in constant negotiations over the last few days to reach a final decision over which stadium will host the Greek Cup final.           The meeting of the Hellenic Football Federation is scheduled for 16:00 and is expected to decide what will happen with the fans in the stands – i.e. whether tickets and/or invitations will be distributed. 

The Greek champion will not compete in the first round, while in the second round she will face one of Barbora Strykova and Marjana Zavenska. In case of qualification in the 3rd round, she will find one of Bianca Andreescu and Marketa Vodrusova in front of her, while in the 4th round, if she continues, it is very likely that she will play Swiatek with Elena Rybakina. In the quarter-finals, as mentioned above, Sakkari may meet Swiatek and if they manage to make it through, they will theoretically always be called upon to face last year's finalist, Ons Zamber, whom they had faced in the same competition in 2022. Moreovr, Jan-Lennard Struff thought he was done at the Madrid Open when he lost to Aslan Karatsev in the final round of qualifying last week. Then he got an unexpected spot in the tournament’s main draw as the so-called lucky loser and has really made it count, upsetting fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3 on Thursday to set up another shot at Karatsev – this time in the semifinals. The big-serving German is just the third lucky loser to reach the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament. Women’s No 1 Iga Swiatek and No 2 Aryna Sabalenka both won their semifinals and will meet for the title on Saturday. It will be a rematch of the final in Stuttgart two weeks ago, when Swiatek won. It will be the first time the top two ranked players meet in a WTA 1000 final since then No 1 Serena Williams beat second-ranked Li Na for the 2014 Miami Open title. “I really want to have this revenge,” Sabalenka said. The 33-year-old Stuff gets a chance to avenge a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Karatsev in qualifying. He only made it into the main draw because another player withdrew. Struff had lost only five service games in the main draw en route to the quarterfinals and relinquished only one against Tsitsipas on his way to victory in the Spanish capital. “It feels amazing. It was a very, very hard battle,” Struff said. “Very, very happy that I played this well today.” The fifth-ranked Tsitsipas was coming off a final appearance at the Barcelona Open, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. He was a runner-up to Novak Djokovic in Madrid in 2019. Defending champion Alcaraz faces 17th-seeded Borna Coric in the other semifinal. Karatsev reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal after ending a strong run by Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (3), 6-4. The veteran Russian saved all three breaks points he faced in the first set and converted his only opportunity in the second.           “Aslan is playing amazing this week so far and he beat me pretty easily in qualies, I need to say,” Struff said. “I didn’t play the best tennis in that match, but he made me play not good, I feel like. I think we need to analyze it now, focus on the match tomorrow and I hope I can do better.” Karatsev has been ranked as high as 14th. In 2021, he became the first man on his Grand Slam debut to reach the Australian Open semifinals. He became only the second qualifier to make the semifinals in Madrid. “I started the year inside the top 100 then I dropped and lost some matches,” he said. “You have to keep going and believe, and I have a team behind me that is always supporting me and believing in me.” Swiatek cruised past 12th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-1 to make it to her first final in Madrid and set up the rematch with Sabalenka, who advanced 6-4, 6-1 over Maria Sakkari. Swiatek improved to 27-1 on clay since the start of last season. She will play in her seventh career WTA 1000 final, tying Caroline Wozniacki for the most appearances in the final at this level before turning 22 since the WTA 1000 events began in 2009. “I’m just happy that I have a chance to be in the final,” Swiatek said. Sabalenka, the 2021 champion in Madrid, opened with a 3-0 lead before the ninth-seeded Sakkari broke back. She then won nine of the last 11 games, including the last five, to comfortably close out. “It was actually my best match of the tournament,” Sabalenka said. “I’m super happy with the level that I played, and especially with my mental game.” The Australian Open champion is seeking her fifth WTA 1000 title and 13th career title overall. It will be only the third time in the last 40 years that the top two ranked women’s players face each other twice on clay in a single season.

The country’s soccer federation has failed to find a venue for the Greek Cup final between AEK Athens and PAOK Thessaloniki on May 24th after seeking assistance to host the match in Cyprus, England, Germany or Australia. 2 local stadiums, in the central Greek cities of Volos and Larissa, have also been ruled out after safety inspections. “The fans of AEK and PAOK and those in general should be aware that the (federation) is facing an concerted and organized effort to stop the Greek Cup final from taking place under the pretext of preventing fan violence,” the federation said Wednesday. “Every effort will be made to hold the final at a neutral ground and even if this obstructionist effort continues. The final will go ahead.” Greek Cup finals in the past have been repeatedly marred by violence, and federation officials say this year’s game will likely take place in front of only a select group of supporters. The debacle regarding the venue ends another year of turmoil in Greek soccer with heated public spats between rival tycoon club owners, many with fortunes in shipping, energy and the news media. Referees from overseas were again used to officiate major games. But Polish match officials pulled out of a Greek match last month following a reported altercation with passengers at Athens International Airport. The incident prompted UEFA to withdraw its support from the referee assistance program. “UEFA was deeply saddened and highly disturbed to learn about another incident concerning the abusive and violent behavior towards football referees delegated to officiate recent matches in the Greek championship,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin wrote in a May 1 letter to the Greek soccer federation. “We must prioritize the safety of our match officials, who must be kept away from such hostile and dangerous situations.” Greek officials said the decision was unlikely to impact the three remaining rounds of the league playoffs because referees had already been selected. AEK Athens and city rival Panathinaikos currently lead the standings with 76 points each from 33 games. Defending champion Olympiakos trails by 10 points despite the high-profile signings of former Real Madrid duo Marcelo and James Rodriguez, who were both released during the season.

The Greek tennis player prevailed with a 2-1 set (7-5, 3-6, 6-3) against Sebastian Baez from Argentina and in the next round he will face the Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Mirales (No 42 in the world ranking), who earlier beat the Russian Roman Shafiulin with 2-1 sets. "Tsitsifast" won in 2 hours and 14 minutes against the 22-year-old tennis player who is No. 31 in the ATP Rankings. In the 1st set, it was in the eighth game when Baez broke to take a temporary lead. However, Tsitsipas's reaction was immediate, he took the ninth game after a "battle", after Baes had erased three break points. With three points in a row and making another break on the Argentine's serve, Tsitsipas won the set 7-5. In the 2nd set, Sebastian Baez led 3-0. Although Tsitsipas was down 3-1, the Argentinian proved superior and won the second set 6-3. In the 3rd set, in the eighth game, Tsitsipas broke Baes' serve and took the advantage to win the set 6-3 for the Greek tennis player.