Sports
Apollon Limassol and AEL FC are the two major sport clubs in Limassol, which have football, basketball and volleyball teams. In basketball, Apollon and AEL are very powerful teams). In football, both teams Apollon and AEL play in First Division. Aris Limassol is another football team which plays in First Division and like AEL is one of the founding teams of the Cyprus Football Association (KOP). AEL women volleyball teams is the permanent champion of Cyprus. There are also teams in athletics, bowling, cycling and other sports.
The football stadium of Limassol is Tsirion, with capacity of 16 000, which hosts the three football teams of Limassol and in the past it hosted Cyprus national football team. It was used also for athletics. There are various other stadiums for other sports in Limassol. The Apollon Limassol basketball stadium, hosted the 2003 FIBA Europe South Regional Challenge Cup Final Four. The two basketball teams of Limassol participated and AEL became the first Cypriot sport team to win a European Trophy. In 2006, Limassol hosted the FIBA Europe All Star Game in Spyros Kiprianou Sports Centre, as it had the year before.
Also, in the Limassol district the Cyprus Rally was hosted for World Rally Championship and currently is organizing the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
Limassol also has an independent civilian Rugby Union team, the Limassol Crusaders, who play at the AEK Achileas Stadium and participate in the Joint Services Rugby League.There is a professional handball team, APEN Agiou Athanasiou. An annual marathon event takes place each year in Limassol the Limassol International Marathon GSO.
Rowing and canoeing are rapidly becoming very popular in Limassol, due to the 3 Nautical clubs in the city of Limassol. The Germasoyia dam is the place for both practising and competitions.
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Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
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