ATHENS - The Greek final at the fourth ranking tournament in Koralli Club in Athens was again a match between Nick Polychronopoulos and Kostas Kokkoris. The two players, who were among the main contenders for Greece at the World championship for national teams in Viersen, finished as the numbers one and two in the final ranking of the Greek championship. For Polychronopoulos, it was his third title in three years. The new and old champion won all three rankings tournaments in which he started. Kokkoris won the first tournament.
Nick Polychronopoulos dedicated his championship to his wife and daughter after a performance in five matches in which he barely was in trouble. Polychronopoulos played 1.672 average over the three tournaments. His last of three winst was qualitatively certainly not the best. ,,I felt more stress than usual, because I wanted to extend my title so much.''
In the final, Polychronopoulos defeated his main rival, Kostas Kokkoris, 40-29 in 25 innings. In the semi-finals he defeated Kostas Papakonstantinou 40-29 in 26 innings. Kostas Kokkoris beat Thomas Koukis 40-26 in 22. The other big favourite for the final victory, Filippos Kasidokostas, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Papakonstantinou 40-37 in 30 innings.
Nick Polychronopoulos has shown with his third title in a row that he is by far the best Greek player in recent years. Also in the international circuit, 'Poly' is on his way to better his ranking: he made it into the World Cup semi-final in Luxor and is therefor the number thirteen at the world ranking now.
Next week, Polychronopoulos comes tot he start at the Ho Chi Minh World Cup in a new attempt to reach the top twelve. ,,I'm going to do my very best'', he said after he took his third Greek title.