Tennis world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas has virtually committed to January’s Australian Open.
Tsitsipas, 23, described the tournament’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for participating athletes as “fair”.
“I will play under the conditions that have been set now. I think it’s fair,” he said.
It comes one week after he declined to reveal his vaccination status ahead of the current Indian Wells tournament in California.
“I’m sorry but I’m not able to provide my medical … any of my medical records, or any of my medical status. Thank you,” Tsitsipas said last week.
While the Victorian government has not mandated the COVID-19 vaccine for tennis players, The Age this month confirmed it is probable a separate vaccine mandate will be required for tennis stars.
Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley has raised concerns that mandatory vaccination may turn top players away.
St. Demetrios Church hall in inner Melbourne will open its doors as a four-day popup vaccination clinic next week.
People over the age of 16 will be able to book their Pfizer jabs at the church hall between October 20 to 23.
Medical staff of the Port Melbourne Medical Centre will administer the vaccines and Greek-speaking doctors will be provided by the Hellenic Medical Society of Melbourne.
Belmore’s All Saints Grammar School in Sydney ran as a vaccination clinic earlier this year (Photo: Janie Barrett)
St. Eleftherios in Brunswick will follow suit in offering COVID-19 vaccinations from October 27.
It’s a key part of the Greek Community of Melbourne’s campaign with the Victorian Government to “target local communities”.
It comes as the state recorded an all-time high of 2,297 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths on Wednesday.
For more information or to book your appointment, visit Port Melbourne Medical, click here or call 9662 2722.
NSW will open its borders to fully vaccinated international travellers — who will no longer need to quarantine in hotels, or at home — from November 1.
“In addition, probably the most significant announcement we are making is an end to quarantine.” NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced on Friday.
“From November 1st, those people returning Australians and tourers who want to come back, who want to visit Australia and coming to Sydney, hotel quarantine will be a thing of the past.”
People wanting to arrive in Sydney from overseas will need to show proof they’ve received a TGA-approved vaccine, and undertake a PCR test for COVID-19 before they board their flight.
NSW is the only state to announce quarantine-free international travel.
Regional travel
Greater Sydney residents will no longer be able to travel regionally until November 1.
“I know for many it will be unpopular, but as Premier I believe it is the right decision,” Perrottet said.
“The reason we have made that decision is best on vaccination rates in front of us.”
He noted that NSW will “probably” hit the 80 percent double dose milestone tomorrow.
Interstate travel
Premier Perrottet says he will continue to work with other Premiers to get NSW residents travelling interstate.
ACT residents will be able to travel to Sydney from November 1.
Greece and the United States signed an agreement on Thursday to renew their long-standing defense cooperation.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) will allow the NATO allies to advance stability in the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
“The MDCA is the bedrock of our defense cooperation,” Blinken said in a statement.
“Today’s amendment extends the MDCA’s validity, making it consistent with other bilateral defense cooperation agreements between NATO Allies and durable enough to allow for Greece and the United States to advance security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias sign the renewal of the U.S.-Greece Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement at the State Department in Washington, U.S. October 14, 2021 (Photo via U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Greece)
The two countries, which have strong political and economic ties, renewed their agreement for five years with an understanding that from then onward, it would remain in place indefinitely unless one of the parties chooses to withdraw.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said the U.S. commitment to Greece showed that both countries are determined to safeguard and protect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The deal comes a few weeks Greece stirred further tensions with Turkey by signing a new defense pact with France.
The Eastern Mediterranean has for decades seen NATO allies Greece and Turkey at odds with each other over competing territorial claims that extend into airspace, energy, and the status of some islands in the Aegean and the ethnically split island of Cyprus.
Tensions flared up last year when Turkish and Greek navy frigates escorted vessels exploring for hydrocarbons. The two sides are seeking to repair their frayed ties but differences remain.
Turkey and Greece held the last round of bilateral talks last week aimed at addressing differences in the Mediterranean and elsewhere.
Severe storms have swept across Greece on Thursday, flooding Athens and prompting evacuations in Evia.
Rescuers were also preparing to use helicopters to lift stranded people off rooftops in Corfu, Civil Protection and Climate Change Minister Christos Stylianides said.
“There is no doubt that we are facing a dangerous weather phenomenon that is very serious in some parts of the country,” he said.
Several dozen people in north Evia were moved out of their homes to stay with friends or at hotel rooms booked by the regional authority.
Passengers evacuate a bus as the rain water flooding an avenue in southern Athens, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Storms battered the Greek capital and other parts of southern Greece, causing traffic disruption and some road closures. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
The fire service received over 300 calls in Athens to pump water out of flooded homes, authorities said.
Dozens of vehicles were stranded on flooded roads in Athens, including a man swept by the floods in his car who has since been reported safe.
Private and public sector businesses, public transport, and roads have closed in Athens but flights at Athens International Airport were uninterrupted.
Schools in Athens, Evia, and near Thessaloniki will be closed Friday.
It’s expected the worst of the storm is yet to come, particularly for Evia, Halkidiki, Samos, Ikaria, and the eastern Aegean, but is expected to improve Saturday.
A brief search through the history of the Greek community in Western Australian all points back to one man – Athanasios Avgoustis. He is widely believed to be the first Kastellorizian to settle in the state and was the founding President of the Kastellorizian Association of WA.
And yet despite this pioneering ethos, not many people outside of WA have heard of him. So with the help of two of his grandchildren, Evangeline Galettis OAM and Alexandra Mandalis, The Greek Herald endeavoured to find out more about the life of this incredible man.
Migrating to Australia from Kastellorizo:
Athanasios was born in Kastellorizo in 1870 and was the eldest son of Georgios and Evdokia Avgoustis. At the tender age of 14, Athanasios and his cousins, Dimitrios and Athanasios Manolas, had to flee their homeland after they were involved in a minor sea skirmish with a Turkish ship.
Athanasios’ Port Said passport. Photo supplied.
The boys ended up in Egypt where they worked with the Suez Canal Company. The sight of ships passing southward through the canal aroused in young Athanasios a desire to go to Australia.
He left Egypt, making his passage to Singapore then to Broome, where he worked in the pearl industry for some time. Later he moved to Freemantle and Adelaide, until he eventually returned to Perth and set up business as an oyster and fish merchant.
But after seven years, Athanasios returned to Egypt and married Panaula Komninos on September 25, 1904. When the pair travelled back to Fremantle, Panaula was somewhat disappointed by what she saw.
Athanasios and Panaula Avgoustis. Photo supplied.
“My grandmother came from Port Said, she had been educated in a French convent. She was a lady and here they were in a colony, and it was very, very sparse. There was hardly anything. I think they would have struggled,” Athanasios’ granddaughter, Evangeline Galettis OAM, tells The Greek Herald.
Founding member of the WA Greek community:
Despite this struggle, the Greek couple were still able to look after their family, which included six daughters and three sons.
Using the knowledge he had gained on the pearling grounds of Broome, Athanasios tried to establish oyster beds on a stretch of shore along the Swan River without much luck. Eventually, he was able to keep oysters shipped from Sydney alive and growing in the Swan River at East Fremantle and that’s where he ended up establishing WA’s original oyster bed restaurant.
“That restaurant was a sparkling place because it was the first time there was a restaurant that specialised in oysters. Other things like steak came too but people went in there for the oysters,” Athanasios’ 92-year-old granddaughter, Alexandra Mandalis, tells The Greek Herald.
Alexandra Mandalis at age 17 years in 1946 (left) and this year at age 92 years. Photos supplied.
Later the couple even took many newly arrived Greeks under their care, providing food and shelter until they could find employment.
“The majority of the Greeks in Perth came from the island of Kastellorizo. When many of them arrived at Freemantle, they were in straitened circumstances, but [Athanasios] was always disposed to help them,” an article in the West Australian on May 28, 1932, states.
Of course, the first Greek organisation in WA, of which Athanasios was a founding member, and the establishment of the Kastellorizian Association in 1912 was central to this support as it gave Greek migrants a chance to connect with each other.
Some of Athanasios’ grandchildren (L-R): Eris Kondos, Calypso Papadakis, Alexandra Mandalis and Constantine Mandalis.
During this time, Athanasios also held church services in his home until he pushed for the construction of the Saints Constantine and Helene church in Perth. Prior to this, Greeks had to wait for a priest to pass through the city by ship to conduct weddings and christenings.
“He used to organise everything for weddings and christenings so that he had it all ready when the priest got there at the port… because if they missed the wedding, they had to wait maybe another six or twelve months for the priest to come again,” Ms Mandalis says.
Evangeline Galettis OAM at Athanasios’ old oyster saloon where a photo of him and his family remains. Photos supplied.
Wall and plaque in honour of Athanasios at the residence of his former oyster saloon. Photo supplied.
With all this in mind, it’s clear Athanasios was a pioneering man in WA and one who was dearly missed by all when he passed away in 1932 at the age of 62. His wife continued his legacy, building a restaurant over the river called ‘Auguste’s Oyster Beds’ and running it with the help of three of her daughters, Helene, Gela and Dorothea.
The restaurant ran in the family until 1966 and is now known as ‘the DOME’ restaurant. A plaque sits in the restaurant commemorating the role of Athanasios in WA’s oyster industry and Greek community.
*This article was made possible with the help of information provided by Evangeline Galettis OAM.
In what could be one of the best matches of the season, Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame the relentless attack from Alex De Minaur to reach the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells tournament.
The second seed pulled off the miraculous 6-7(3) 7-6(3) 6-2 victory over his Australian opponent, battling back to notch a tour-leading 54th win of the season.
After a tight first set that saw both men exchange breaks, a tiebreak ensued with De Minaur racing to a 5-0 lead before eventually claiming the first set.
There was not much to separate both men in the second set, until Tsitsipas obtained a break and served for the set at 6-5. However, he was immediately broken back by the 22-year old Aussie, to force another tiebreak.
Playing with more confidence than in the first set, Tsitsipas obtained a minibreak to lead 4-2, before escaping with the set.
With the crowd itching for more explosive tennis, it was the World No.3 who got the crucial break in the final set. Backing up his huge serve with devastating forehands, Tsitsipas quickly overwhelmed the 22nd seed, getting a second break before closing out the match after two hours and 44 minutes.
Awaiting the Greek star in the quarterfinals is Nikoloz Basilashvili, who upset 24th seed Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-6(6) earlier in the day.
Bachelor of Laws graduate from the University of Sydney (USYD), John-Patrick Asimakis, has been awarded the Peter Cameron Sydney Oxford Scholarship for 2021.
As the recipient, Mr Asimakis has headed to the UK to undertake postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford where he will study a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL).
“The BCL is renowned as the most rigorous Masters-level law degree in the common law world. I am looking forward to making the most of the outstanding teaching that will be on offer,” Mr Asimakis said in a media release.
“I feel absolutely honoured to have been awarded this scholarship. Without the generous support the scholarship provides, studying at Oxford would simply not be possible for me.”
Mr Asimakis’ academic accomplishments as a Bachelor of Laws student at USYD included being the 2019 University Medallist in Law and receiving numerous academic prizes. He was also a reporter, volunteer, and skilled mooter. He graduated with honours.
Greek Australian, John-Patrick Asimakis, has received a prestigious Oxford scholarship.
To add to his impressive list of achievements, Mr Asimakis speaks four modern languages, and knows Latin and Classical Greek.
He says he plans to practice law and “to continue contributing to legal study by writing and teaching.”
“I genuinely loved my undergraduate studies in law. At the risk of sounding cynical, I don’t think all or even most law students could honestly say that. So pursuing further study in law is something that has always appealed to me,” Mr Asimakis said.
He concluded by giving advice to others who also want to pursue law.
“Be open minded about where you may end up. There are lots of career paths which someone with a law degree can fruitfully pursue.”
Wednesday, 24 November 2021 at 7.30 pm is the date Sydney Olympic FC will welcome fans back to Belmore Sports Ground for a huge FFA Cup Round of 32 fixture against Sydney FC.
“It will be a great night for our Club and importantly a great chance to get the Olympic family back to Belmore to support the team,” CEO of Sydney Olympic FC, John Boulous, tells The Greek Herald.
“Our squad has commenced training this week and are looking forward to the opportunity to play for our Club and its supporters again.”
The date is set and we are looking forward to welcoming the Olympic family back to Belmore for a huge FFA Cup Round of 32 fixture against Sydney FC on Wednesday 24 November. Kick off 7.30pm pic.twitter.com/BJiZjKu2ml
Mr Boulous said ticket details will be released in the coming weeks as game organisers “become a little clearer on any restrictions and conditions that will be required.”
“But we have a date and are asking all Olympic fans to mark it in your calendar and be ready to get your tickets, as we are expecting the maximum crowd we are allowed.”
Sydney Olympic team have begun training. Photo: Peter Oglos/The Greek Herald.
Wests Tigers have announced the signings of three international representative players ahead of the 2022 Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership season.
Following a strong season in 2021, Wests Tigers will be bolstered further by the re-signing of international fullback and captain, Botille Vette-Welsh, as well as the signing of Dally M Medallists, Kezie Apps and Jessica Sergis.
Jillaroos star, Sergis, will join Wests Tigers after she featured for Helensburgh Tigers in the 2021 Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership season.
Jessica Sergis is part of an international trio signed by Wests Tigers for upcoming season.
One of the elite outside backs of the game, Sergis has competed at the highest level, having represented Australia and New South Wales over the past five seasons.
The 24-year-old received the game’s highest honour when she was named the Dally M Medallist for Women’s Player of the Year in 2019.
Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe welcomed the new signings and said he was excited by the continued progress being made by the club’s women’s program.
“On behalf of all at Wests Tigers, I’d like to welcome Kezie and Jess to the club and say how excited we are to have them on board this year,” Pascoe said.
Jessica Sergis was named the Dally M Medallist for Women’s Player of the Year in 2019.
“They are both world-class players who have performed at the highest levels in the game and will certainly add a great deal of experience, talent and professionalism to our team.”
Sergis will begin the year playing in the NRLW competition after she switched from the Dragons to the Sydney Roosters.
The Wests Tigers Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership team will begin its initial pre-season training in the coming weeks before players with NRLW commitments will return to the team full-time in April in the lead-up to the 2022 campaign.
