PAOK won the 18th Women's Handball Cup in Chalkida by beating Nea Ionia 21-20 in Sunday's final to claim the trophy for the sixth time.
Maria Hatziparasidou scored nine goals and goalkeeper Emanuella Tsiknaki made 13 saves on 33 shots for PAOK. Magda Kepesidou delivered 18 saves on 38 shots for Nea Ionia, while her sister Nikolina Kepesidou scored three early goals.
Nea Ionia started the match better and built leads of 2-1 at 6:20, 5-3 at 14:12, 7-5 at 18:22, and 8-6 at 20:52. Magda Kepesidou recorded nine key saves on 14 shots in that opening stretch for a 65 percent save rate.
PAOK responded behind Tsiknaki and Hatziparasidou, executing a 6-0 run to turn a 6-8 deficit into a 12-8 lead by the 31st minute. Sasa Zivulovic's Nea Ionia side answered with two goals from Mania, one from Konstantinidou, and one from Stougiannidou to complete a 4-0 run and close the gap.
Goals from Hatziparasidou, Mentesidou, Burato, and Grbavcevic restored a 17-13 lead for PAOK at 46:30. Nea Ionia mounted another 4-0 run starring Konstantinidou to equalize at 17-17 in the 51st minute.
Tsiknaki saved a penalty from Mania at 53:53 with the score tied at 18-18. After Grbavcevic and Mania traded goals to make it 19-19, Hatziparasidou won a penalty and drew a two-minute suspension against Davidovic. Hatziparasidou converted the penalty to make it 20-19 at 56:04, and Vrancic added another goal for PAOK at 57 minutes to extend the lead to 21-19.
Both teams failed to score on their next two attacks before Stougiannidou scored for Nea Ionia at 59:50 to produce the final 21-20 scoreline.
Women's Handball Cup Semi-Finals
Nea Ionia reached the final by defeating Athinaikos 36-20 in the second semi-final of the 18th Final Four in Chalkida. The victory marked the 14th time Nea Ionia qualified for the Women's Cup final.
The teams were tied 2-2 early before Nea Ionia went on a 3-0 run to take a 5-2 lead in the sixth minute. Globarevic reduced the margin to 5-3 for Athinaikos in the tenth minute, but Athinaikos missed two penalties and could not get closer.
Nea Ionia took advantage of those missed opportunities to lead 9-3 in the 16th minute and 13-6 through Frangou in the 22nd minute. They extended the lead to 17-8 at halftime before closing out the 36-20 win under coach Sasa Zivulovic. Five-minute score progressions were 2-2, 3-5, 3-8, 5-12, 7-14, 8-17 at halftime, 10-19, 11-23, 13-27, 17-30, 18-34, and 20-36.
PAOK qualified for the final for the eighth time in team history and fifth consecutive year by defeating GAS Kamatero 30-14 in the first semi-final. The win set up a clash between PAOK and Nea Ionia for Sunday, June 2, at 4:00 p.m., broadcast live on public television station ertflix.
After a 1-1 tie in the first five minutes, PAOK went on a 5-0 run to lead 6-1 through Hatziparasidou in the ninth minute. PAOK extended the advantage to 11-3 in the 17th minute before Kamatero fought back.
Kamatero goalkeeper Michaela Vassiliou helped her team reduce the deficit to 11-6 at the 25th minute and 13-9 near halftime. Vassiliou and Kamatero pulled closer to 13-10 in the 31st minute and 14-12 in the 36th minute, completing a 9-3 run.
Dimitris Pelekidis's PAOK squad regained control with a 6-0 run, extending the lead to 20-12 in the 42nd minute and 23-13 in the 47th minute. Five-minute score progressions were 1-1, 6-2, 9-3, 11-4, 11-6, 13-9 at halftime, 14-11, 18-12, 22-13, 24-13, 25-14, and 30-14.
Handball Premier Playoff Matches
AEK maintained top position in phase B of the Handball Premier by defeating Drama 41-31 in their third playoff match. Kotsionis led AEK with six goals, while Sevelev made a positive debut for the club.
Olympiacos SFP / Xini Club defeated AESH Pylea 37-20 at the closed M. Loizos arena in their third phase B match. The Piraeus club secured the victory in the first half to achieve three wins in three matches after qualifying for the top eight of the Greek Cup.
PAOK earned a 24-23 road victory against Ionikos N. Philadelphia in Athens on Saturday, February 5th. Ionikos held an early lead, but PAOK capitalized on opponent errors in the 21st minute to take a 13-11 halftime advantage.
PAOK expanded the margin to 18-13 in the second half before slowing the pace to secure the 24-23 win. Elsewhere in the third playoff game of the Handball Premier, Diomidis Argous defeated Aeropos Edessa Man Dynamic 37-30.
Faiakas defeated Salamina 32-24 in a match marked by tension. Following the final whistle, referees recorded a physical altercation between opposing players on the official match sheet.
The referees wrote on the match sheet:
blockquote>“At the end of the game, in the middle of the field, when the players of both teams were gathered, the athlete of the 2nd team, Koutsopoulos Andreas, in the presence of the referee Papoulias, hit the athlete of the 1st team. Sakic Aldin, in the neck, this resulted in “a conflict between the players, with no further unsportsmanlike conduct. For this reason, the above-named B’ team player’s card was retained”..