Greek Sports Thread

[Rev]

Funding of stadium secured


The aspirations of Panathinaikos for a new complex in central Athens to house its soccer, basketball and volleyball divisions edged closer to reality yesterday with a Finance Ministry pledge to the City of Athens for the provision of funds, early next year, that are expected to cover the project’s cost.
Work on the project, budgeted at 127 million euros, will begin in the new year, outgoing Athens Mayor Theodoros Behrakis said yesterday. He will be succeeded by the newly elected mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis on January 1. Both received a joint pledge from Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis at a meeting yesterday.
Panathinaikos, one of Greece’s biggest clubs, hopes that the project, to be located in Votanikos, just over one kilometer from Omonia Square, will be ready for its centennial year in 2008.
The project’s plan also entails the transformation of Panathinaikos’s traditional base, the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, into a park. It is situated in downtown Ambelokipi, one of the capital’s most congested regions.

[Rev]

Panathinaikos clips Maccabi in 90-88 win By Yoav Borowitz ATHENS - Midway through the third quarter against Panathinaikos last night, Maccabi Tel Aviv made two straight alley-oops and for a moment looked like the Maccabi of recent years.

But it was just an optical illusion, and Maccabi Tel Aviv stayed without a road win in the Euroleague this season as it went down 90-88 at unbeaten Panathinaikos, at the OAKA Olympic Hall in Athens last night.

Panathinaikos improves to 7-0, to top the Group B standings, while Maccabi drops to 4-3.

Mike Batiste led Panathinaikos with 21 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks, while Tony Delk added 17, Dimos Dikoudis 13 and Nikos Chatzivrettas 11. Will Bynum led Maccabi with 22 points, 5 assists and 4 steals, while Nikola Vujcic added 18.

With three seconds to go, Maccabi looked like it could still pull something off, as Dimitris Diamantidis missed his second free throw and Nikola Vujcic sent the rebound coast to coast to Simas Jasaitas, but the Lithuanian's game-tying basket was waived off, as the referees correctly ruled that the ball left his hands after the buzzer sounded.

That perhaps was all the difference between the present Maccabi team and the one that made three straight Euroleague championship games. That team had a winning spirit.

"I'm really proud of the effort the guys put in," said Maccabi coach Neven Spahija. "I always said that in Greece we would show our real ability, and I think that happened tonight.

"We lost because of our lack of experience. I'm sad that we lost, but I'm not disappointed with our game," Spahija added.

Will Bynum described the defeat as one of the "most frustrating of my career."

"We played like men and that's the only way to play on the road," Bynum said.

"It doesn't matter to me if I only play a few minutes and only score one point, or if I don't leave the court and score 40 points.

"The only thing that matters to me is that we win. We know now that we are one of the best teams in the world, certainly in the Euroleague and now we need to move on."

[Giorgos]

I'm not a fan of Panathinaikos but as long as a Greek team succeeds I'm happy.

[Rev]

Euroleague basketball

Olympiakos 2nd in group a.
Panathhinaikos 1st in group b.
Aris 5th in group C

ULEB Cup

PAOK equal 2nd with two other teams in group d.
AEK equal 5th/last with another team in group a.

Not bad, would be sweeter if ARIS & AEK get their sh*t together.

[Rev]

Marcos Baghdatis lost last night at the Australian Open.