Team Hellas suffered losses in multiple events on Wednesday, August 7 as the Paris Olympic Games head into the final four days of competition.
Men’s water polo team
Greece’s men’s water polo team lost their shot at the semi-finals after losing to Serbia 12-11 in a nail-bitingly close game.
A stunning goal by Nikola Jaksic with 1.2 seconds left in the quarter-final against Serbia left the men’s national water polo team out of the top four of the Olympic tournament in Paris.
The team, led by Thodoris Vlachos, will have to continue their obligations for places 5-8, facing Australia on Friday, August 9 while Serbia will play the USA in the semi-final.
Papanikolaou was the protagonist in the first few minutes of the match, both as a defender (he made two defenses against Ubovic) and as a striker, as he opened the scoring with a very difficult return, but was then beaten by Filipovic in an unrepeatable quad-a-quad.
The entire match was constantly on a tightrope, as both sides fought to equalise the score.
Everything indicated that the winner would be decided on penalties but Serbia surprised Greece and onlookers with a game-winning goal at the buzzer, leaving Team Hellas devastated.
Women’s pole vault final
Greek pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi missed her opportunity to secure a medal in the women’s pole vault final at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, August 7 as she finished 9th failing to clear 4.80 metres.
The Rio Olympic gold medallist cleared 4.40 metres on her second try and then cleared 4.60 and 4.70 metres on her first attempts.
However, the 34-year-old failed to surpass 4.80 metres in her three attempts, thus ousting her from the ongoing final.
Women’s freestyle 53kg wrestling
Greece’s Maria Prevolaraki and Germany’s Annika Wendle went head-to-head in the round of 16 of the women’s freestyle 53kg wrestling match in the 2024 Paris Olympics on Wednesday, August 7.
The wrestling match ended, leaving Prevolaraki defeated 3-2 by Wendle, a two-time bronze medalist at the European Wrestling Championships.
Despite the loss, the 32-year-old still holds out hope of advancing through the repechage round.
Source: Zougla, Ekathimerini.
