ATHENS - The Greek number one in three cushion, Nikos Polychronopoulos, has taken an important step towards a new Greek title in his career. The 41-year-old player from Athens was the best in the third Grand Prix tournament, in the Enjoy Club in his hometown. The Grand Prix counts for the national ranking. In the final, Polychronopoulos defeated Kostas Kokkoris in a quick match, 40-37 in 21 innings after 23-8 at the break and a run of 11 by Kokkoris that brought back the tension at the end.
Polychronopoulos, who played 1.935 average in the third ranking tournament, now leads the national ranking with 396 points ahead of Filippos Kasidokostas with 344 and Kostas Antonatos with 236 points. Of the three tournaments in the series of four, two were won by Polychronopoulos, one by Kasidokostas.
In the semi-finals, Polychronopoulos bested Kasidokostas 40-22 in 17, Kokkoris defeated Paraponiaris 40-15 in 24. A high level match in the preliminary stage was Poly's game against Nanis: 40-19 in 16. The best run of the tournament came from Apostolos Balogiannis with 13.
The final ranking of the third Grand Prix:
1 Nikos Polychronopoulos 1.935
2 Kostas Kokkoris 1.730
3 Filippos Kasidokostas 1.667
4 Kostas Paraponiaris 1.085
5 Kostas Antonatos 1.333
6 Evaggelas Moulos 1.110
7 Kostas Papakonstantinou 1.099
8 Thomas Koukis 1.070.
Best run: Apostolos Balogiannis 13
The Greek ranking after three events:
1 Nikos Polychronopoulos 396 points
2 Filippos Kasidokostas 344
3 Kostas Antonatos 236
4 Kostas Kokkoris 192
5 Kostas Papakonstantinou 156
6 Thomas Koukis 156
7 Apostolos Balogiannis 126
8 Kassilis Kanetis 117.
