With the Cyprus-Greece handball match and the participation of 24 other athletes in six sports, the 20th Mediterranean Games continue on Thursday, August 27 “Taranto 26.”

This marks the first time fin swimming is featured in the Games, a debut for sailing, while athletes from the Cyprus Olympic Committee’s delegation continue to compete in tennis, shooting, badminton, and archery.

Here is a breakdown of Cyprus’s participation:

In handball, Cyprus faced Greece in the third match of Group B. The loss was expected due to the difference in skill level; however, the final score of 24–39 can be explained by the fact that Greece was aiming for a large margin of victory, as first place in the group in their match against Algeria would likely be decided by goal difference. Its 15-goal victory over Cyprus, combined with Algeria’s 7-goal win over Tunisia, ultimately secured first place for Greece.

Cyprus will compete for 5th–8th place in matches scheduled for Saturday, August 29, and Monday, August 31.

Sailing made its debut with six athletes competing in four categories. Two races were held in the ILCA6 and ILCA7 classes and just one in the Men’s and Women’s iQFoil class. Andriani Georgiou got off to an excellent start in the ILCA6 class; with a first-place and a fourth-place finish, is currently in first place in the standings. In the same category, Marilena Makri finished 12th and 6th, respectively, and is in 7th place.

In the corresponding men’s category, Poeros, with a 12th- and 8th-place finish, is in 10th place, followed closely by Karatzis, who finished 11th and 12th. There are 19 athletes competing in both categories.

A very good start for Natasa Lappa, who placed 3rd in the only race held in the iQFoil class. In the corresponding men’s race, Iakovos Christofidis placed 9th.

In his first appearance in fin swimming, Nikolas Hatzipanagi Morias achieved half of his goal: to introduce the sport to the Cypriot public and encourage young athletes to take it up. In the competitive portion of the 50-meter Apnea, he was unlucky because shortly after beginning his underwater effort, one foot slipped out of his fin, preventing him from achieving the performance he had hoped for. He naturally finished last in the first qualifying heat, but in the end, the judges disqualified his attempt.

With mixed feelings, he said shortly after leaving the pool: “The purpose of participating is to showcase the sport and encourage young people to get involved. We came here with the help of the Cyprus Olympic Committee, whom we thank. It’s a very technical sport, and that was evident in today’s race. At the 10-meter mark, my monofin came off, and I essentially swam the 50-meter course holding my breath on one leg. I’m disappointed because if everything had gone well, I could have posted a time 6–7 seconds faster than the one I finished with.”

In archery, all the male and female athletes were eliminated in the round of 32 in the individual knockout matches and were unable to advance further in their events.

In the mixed team event, the pair of Irina Konnova and Christos Thomas advanced past the round of 16 by defeating Algeria 6-2. In the quarterfinals, they lost to Spain 5-1 and finished in 8th place.

In the Mixed Tennis event, in a match held late Wednesday night, Raluca Serban and Lefteris Neos put up a strong fight in the Mixed Doubles quarterfinals against the No. 1 seed, the Italian duo of Vittoria Paganetti and Filippo Romano. They lost 0-2 (2-6, 6-7[3]). They missed a great opportunity to force a third set when, in the second set, they initially led 3-1 and then 5-4 and 40-15, having three set points at their disposal that they failed to capitalize on.

In badminton, the three doubles teams tried to reach a semifinal that would also guarantee a medal, but the men’s teams of Kattirtzis/Kokosis and Giannopoulos/Tambourla were eliminated in the quarterfinals, each having won one match, and the women’s team of Pissi/Mikhail in the round of 16.The duo of Konstantinos Giannopoulos and Ioannis Tambourlas came very close to advancing to the semifinals when they won the first set of their quarterfinal match against the Slovenian team and led 12-10 midway through the second set. However, they were unable to close out the match and allowed Ivanić/Jelenc to “turn the match around.”

In shooting, in the 10m Air Pistol event, Christos Gerasimou finished 19th out of 20 athletes with a score of 532.

Summary of results:

ARTISTIC SWIMMING – FIN / Torre d’Ayala Swimming Stadium

50m Apnea (A) 1st heat Nikos Hatzipanagis Morias DSQ /14

BADMINTON / Francavilla Sport Hall

“16” Doubles (A) Nikolas Kokosis / Aris Kattirtzis (CYP1) vs. Adham Hatem Abdelrazek Abdelhalim / Kareem Mahmoud Ahmed Ezzat (EGY) 2-1 (21-18, 7-21, 21-18) 

“8” Doubles (A) Nicolas Kokosis / Aris Kattirtzis (CYP1) vs. Koceila Julien Mammeri / Youcef Sabri Medel (ALG) 0-2 (10-21, 13-21)

“16” Doubles (A) Konstantinos Giannopoulos / Ioannis Tambourlas (CYP2) vs. Ivan Pejoski / Edan Stefanovski (MKD) 2-0 (21-8, 21-12)

“8” Doubles (A) Konstantinos Giannopoulos / Ioannis Tampourlas (CYP2) vs. Miha Ivancic / Tadej Jelenc (SLO) 1-2 (21-16, 17-21, 11-21)      

 “16” Doubles  (C) Chara Michael / Ioanna Pissi (CYP) vs. Anja Blazina / Ariana Korent (SLO) 1-2 (12-21, 21-19, 16-21)

SHOOTING – AIR GUNS / Torricella F. Albano

10m Air Pistol (A) Qualifying Christos Gerasimou (85, 92, 92, 88, 87, 88) 532-4x 19/20

HANDBALL / Fasano Sport Hall

12:00 Group B Cyprus – Greece 24-39 (11-18, 13-21)

Cyprus: A. Papalambrianou, C. Antoniou, L. Paraskevas (3), F. Misailidis (5), Chr. Hatzipetrou (6), G. Kritikos (1), A. Charalambous (4), Th. Makridis (1), K. Bakatselos, I. Argyrou, N. Karkalatos (3), A. Ioannou, T. Panaretou (1), M. Karagiorgis.

SAILING / Torpediniere Center

ILCA7 (A) Emilios Poeros (12, 8)

ILCA7 (A) Errikos Karatzis (11, 12)

ILCA6 (C) Marilena Makri (6, 12)

ILCA6 (C) Andriani Georgiou (4, 1)

iQFoil (A) Iakovos Christofidis (9)  

iQFoil (A) Natassa Lappa (3)

ARCHERY / New Archery Field

Individual (A) “32” Christos El Helali vs. Mateo Borsani (ITA) 2-6 23rd place/36 

Individual (A) “32” Konstantinos Panagi vs Mihajlo Stefanovic (SER) 0-6 31st place out of 36

Singles (A) “32” Christos Thomas vs Ziga Ravnikar (SLO) 4-6 29th place /36

Singles (C) “32” Irina Konnova vs. Anatoli Martha Gkorila (GRE) 3-7 17th place

Singles (C) “32” Christina Argyridou vs. Fernandez Infante Leyte (ESP) 0-6 24th place

Singles (C) “32” Christina Hatzierotokritou vs. Chiara Rebagliati (ITA) 2-6 27th place

Mixed Doubles “16” Irina Konnova / Christos Thomas (CYP) vs. Yasmine Bellal / Yacine Imloul (ALG) 6-2

Mixed Doubles “8” Irina Konnova / Christos Thomas (CYP) vs. Elia Canales / Andres Temino Mediel (ESP) 1-5 8th place

TENNIS

"8" Mixed Raluca Serban / Eleftherios Neos vs. Vittoria Paganetti / Filippo Romano (ITA) 0-2 (2-6, 6-7[3])      5th place *(August 26)