European 1:8 Off Road Buggy Championships:

The best 1:8 scale buggy drivers from 18 European countries battled it out in Karteros to see who would become the 2008 European Champion. After the first practice race, the leading drivers were critical of the track surface. Following a track inspection, it was decided to work overnight to improve the conditions.

In the actual race, French driver Renaud Savoya pulled off a superb performance to win the competition ahead of former champion Robert Batle of Spain. In third place was Richi Gomez, also of Spain. The junior European title went to 15- year-old Elliot Boots of England.

Olympics:

Greek judo champion Ilias Iliades will carry the Greek flag at the Beijing Olympics this month. In keeping with Olympic tradition, he will be the first person to enter the stadium at the opening ceremony, an honour always awarded to a Greek athlete.  The Greek flag has never been given to a female athlete in an opening ceremony, but maybe next time . . .

 Baseball:

The Greek national baseball team, which consists of 22 players, 13 of whom are from the Greek League and nine are Greek Nationals from America, made an exceptional showing in the European Championship qualifying games in Portugal. The Greek team was by far the best i n the tournament, defeating Russia 5-3, Ireland 5-1 and Portugal 11-3, to get to top spot in their group. They then played Russia again in the final qualifier beating them 5-0 to reach the finals, which will be held in Germany in 2010.

Football:

Greece has slipped ten places down to 18^th in the FIFA football rankings after they suffered a poor Euro 2008 campaign. The new European Champions, Spain, have taken over as the number one side in the world.

Greek Super League:

This league will kick off on August 30 with two of the big Athens clubs, AEK and Panathinaikos, meeting each other. On the same day, OFI will be at home for their first game, which is against PAOK Salonika at 17.00.

Athletics:

Portugal has been chosen to host the Super League in the first ever SPAR European Team Championship on June 20 to 21, 2009. There are twelve teams in the Super League which include Greece, Russia, Great Britain and Germany.

Volleyball:

Beach volleyball pair, Thalia Koutroumanidou and Vianna Tsiartsiani, will be going to the Olympics with Vasso Karadassiou and Vicky Arvaniti as they secured their spot by collecting enough points after a victory in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament held in Norway.

Sailing:

Greek pair, Iordanis Paschalidis and Costas Trigonis has retained the European Championship in the Tornado class in sailing. They were in third place for most of the championship, but triumphed on the last day to win the gold medal. Both will represent Greece in the Olympics this month.

NATIONAL TEAM QUALIFIES AT CRETE GOLF CLUB

The Greek National team ensured its position in the A category of the European Golf Championship after a qualifying game among five countries which took place at the Crete Golf Club in Hersonissos.

 Greece, with a +65 score, was in second place after Czech Republic, which finished with +31 strokes. 

Greece’s top player, Vangelis Ginis, finished in 8th place in the individual (71-75-75=221) and Stavros Parthenis (76-74-75=225), was 10th in the classification among 30 players.

Philippos Papalavrentis, special adviser to the Greek Federation and mission head at the European Men's Challenge Trophy 2008, said: “It is a big success for our national team, which indicates the progress of Greek golf.”

The Greek team consisted of (from left): Adam Kritikos, Stavros Parthenis, Hristos Nikopoulos, Vangelis Ginis, Yiannis Kakakis, Hristos Balasakis (trainer), Mihalis Saroglou.

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