Olympiacos has been crowned Greek champion for the third consecutive year triumphing 4-3 against Panathinaikos in a thrilling final.
Olympiacos retained the title in the men’s A1 national league in Greece. In a gripping final against Panathinaikos on Tuesday night June 25th at the Peace and Friendship Stadium Olympiacos won 4-3 celebrating their third consecutive championship and the 17th in their history. It was an impressive conclusion to the postponed playoffs for positions 1-4 where Pera Athens and AEK Athens also competed.
World-class athletes from Europe and Greece delivered a unique “show” in front of 350 fans. The decisive moment came in the doubles match just before midnight after 4 hours and 45 minutes of play.
For the third time this year in as many league matches the clash between the traditional rivals went down to the wire. The teams’ line-ups varied but in the decisive doubles match PUCAR and OVTCHAROV teamed up for Olympiacos showing a slight superiority and securing the final result in three sets.
The third place was won by Pera Athens who defeated AEK Athens 4-1 in the small final. In the semifinals Olympiacos beat AEK 4-0 and Panathinaikos overcame Pera with the same score.
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV who will return to the German league next season commented: “You have just seen that a championship in the Greek league means a lot to me as well. I fought every match every point participated with a very strong spirit and managed to win in two individual matches and in doubles. I have won championships in Germany Russia Belgium and now I am a champion in Greece. I am happy. Next year I will play in the German league and I am not allowed to play in a second league but I really enjoyed my time here and would be happy to come back at some point.”
Panagiotis GIONIS who appeared in the Greek league again after 23 years added: “The fact that we managed to put Olympiacos on the ropes is a great success. A team with two players in the world’s top 20 and of course SGOUROPOULOS. The draw didn’t work out for us. We wanted me to face PUCAR and KONSTANTINOPOULOS to face SGOUROPOULOS pairs in which I think we would have had a better chance of winning but it didn’t happen. Then we had to achieve the absolute knowing that OVTCHAROV was in excellent condition and that the doubles would be very difficult. It became a real advertisement for the sport. An amazing Champions League level match and I am happy that we offered special emotions to the audience.”
The coach of Olympiacos is George CHRISTOPHORAKIS. George STAMATOUROS and Tasos RINIOTIS were also part of the team. Lefteris MAKRAS was the coach for Panathinaikos with Konstantinos ANGELAKIS not playing in the final and George KONSTANTINOPOULOS also part of the team.
Olympiacos – Panathinaikos 4-3
- Tomislav PUCAR – Konstantinos KONSTANTINOPOULOS 3-0 (11-9 11-6 15-13)
- Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS – Emmanuel LEBESSON 2-3 (11-7 8-11 11-6 8-11 8-11)
- Dimitrij OVTCHAROV – Panagiotis GIONIS 3-1 (11-7 11-6 11-13 11-6)
- PUCAR – LEBESSON 2-3 (11-9 11-9 2-11 6-11 8-11)
- OVTCHAROV – KONSTANTINOPOULOS 3-0 (11-6 11-3 11-6)
- SGOUROPOULOS – GIONIS 2-3 (5-11 6-11 11-6 11-9 14-16)
- OVTCHAROV/PUCAR – KONSTANTINOPOULOS/LEBESSON 3-0 (11-8 11-4 11-9)
