Greece is the European Champion in Deaf Women’s Basketball after beating Lithuania 52-41 in the final that took place at Nick Galis Hall in Athens.
The team of coach Athina Zerva made it to the final easily and won the trophy with relatively equal ease. The score in the 10-minute periods went as follows: 14-13, 26-22, 37-30, 52-41.
Meanwhile the Greek Deaf Men’s Basketball team finished fifth after beating Poland 69-54 in the classification game.
An official ceremony took place on Saturday evening at the Athens Cathedral to celebrate its reopening after seven years of restoration.
The reopening ceremony was attended, among other officials, by the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs Nikos Filis and Supreme Court President Vassiliki Thanou, who saw the interior of the church and attended the great vespers by Hieronymus Archbishop of Athens.
The ceremony started at 7 p.m. with the holy water of the temple, the brief thanksgiving prayer and Vespers. Representatives of all political parties were present along with Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis. Several metropolitan bishops of the Church of Greece, representatives of the patriarchates of Alexandria and Jerusalem and faithful from all the parishes of Athens.
The first Mass in the renovated church took place on Sunday morning by Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and all of Greece with the participation of hierarchs of the Holy Synod.
The Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Metropolis as it is generally known, was built in the 1842 – 1862 period and the name of the street it stands on – starting at Syntagma Square and ending in Monastiraki – was given after it. The Athens Cathedral suffered serious damages from the 1981 and 1999 earthquakes, and has remained surrounded by scaffolds for 17 years. There was an effort to have it fully restored by the 2004 Olympics but the project did not materialize on time.
A major restoration project started in 2010 for the static support of the building and maintenance . In addition, there was renovation of the surrounding square and the sidewalk on Mitropoleos Street.
The Greek Olympic Team has made history by unanimously selecting athlete Sofia Bekatorou as the first-ever female Standard-Bearer to represent Greece in opening ceremonies at Rio 2016.
The 39-year-old Greek sailing champion has taken part in three previous Olympics starting with the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and she was a bronze medalist in 2008 in Beijing while in Athens 2004 she took gold.
In Rio Bekatorou will compete in Class Nacra 17 together with Michael Pateniotis.
According to CNN Greece Bekatorou said: “It is a great honor for me…due to the fact that I’m the first woman as a bearer. I have taken part in three Olympics in three different classes and I feel that my efforts over the years have been rewarded…I want not only to thank the Greek Olympic Committee for the honor bestowed on me, but for the fact that from the inspiration of the President of Spirou Kapralou, the program: Adopt an athlete on the road to Rio, took shape and assisted many athletes to be able to win the ticket to qualify for the Olympics.”
YOU just know this Australian team will never give up, even if in the end they needed a Leckie break to claim a European scalp.
A 1-0 win for the Socceroos over Greece at ANZ Stadium last night came courtesy of the last kick of the game, Mathew Leckie’s turn and shot from the edge of the box earning Ange Postecoglou’s side the most last-gasp of victories.
If either side deserved to shade a fixture that was occasionally physical and rarely spectacular, it was Australia – though on a quagmire of a pitch, they scarcely came close to the heights of recent performances.
Until Leckie broke the deadlock Australia had threatened the Greek goal only sporadically, before a late burst of pressure saw Tim Cahill have a goal disallowed and Trent Sainsbury hit the post. With eight of the Australian starting XI at the end of their seasons, perhaps they could be forgiven for a contest that too often seemed to go through the motions.
With eight of the starting XI at the end of their seasons, perhaps they could be forgiven for a contest that too often seemed to go through the motions.
The game barely rose to a simmer, let alone a boil, until a late Tim Cahill header was disallowed and the frantic final moments saw plenty of chances for both teams.