Yesterday’s performance of the Greek men’s volleyball teams in the Challenge Cup was absolutely successful. Panathinaikos, Olympic as well as PAOK they defeated their opponents and won the qualification of “16” institution.

Panathinaikos entered the match against Ontolen Voda in the Czech Republic with… a left hand, but in the end won 3-1 (15-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19). The victory of the “greens” was determined by a good game on the pitch and in the block. The athletes of Dimitris Andreopoulos needed two sets to qualify, but they declared themselves and achieved victory.

It took Olympiacos just 68 minutes to beat Komarnos in Piraeus 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-21) and reach the number 16 of the Challenge Cup. The Red-Whites had a 3-1 victory in Slovakia as a dowry and wanted two sets to get the “magic card”. In the first set, Piraeus were the absolute leaders, and in the second, when Komarno’s players were leading 16-14, they minimized their mistakes and won 25-21. Leaving no room for doubt in their superiority, they defeated them 25-21 and will advance to the next round of the competition.

With an excellent performance in the first two sets, PAOK beat Montana in Bulgaria 3:1 (25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20) and “closed” the qualification to the “16” Challenge Cup. Yosko Milenkoski’s team beat Montana 3-1 in Thessaloniki in the first match, so two sets were required to get a ticket. The coach gave time for other athletes to participate, as a result of which the Bulgarians won the repechage set, and the 4th one was won by the club from Thessaloniki.

• In the Tel Aviv group (4th place), the draw was made by the men’s volleyball team. The representative group will play France (28.08-16.9), Israel, Romania, Turkey and Portugal in the European Championship. The women’s team will play in Dusseldorf with Germany, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Sweden in the corresponding tournament (15.08 – 3.9).