Turkish Spor Toto Ankara qualified for the 1/2 finals of the Challenge Cup after eliminating Greek PAOK, where national player Nikolay Kolev plays. The hosts took the first two sets with a difference of 25:19 and 25:14, thus making the remainder of the match a formality, as the guests from Thessaloniki needed a 3:0 or 3:1 victory to play a "golden set". In the first match, Niki Kolev and company lost their home game 1:3. In the second leg, the result was even more decisive for Ankara 3:0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-23). Today Kolev finished the match with 7 points (3 blocks).
while Aleksandar Liaftov, who also played in the Bulgarian championship, scored only 3. The most effective player for the winners was American Garrett Muagututia with 11 points.
The Greeks traveled to the capital of Turkey after their 3:0 victory over Milon, while Spor Toto played the second match after two consecutive losses to Halkbank and Fenerbahçe in the Turkish championship.
Thus, the Turkish team, which eliminated Neftochimic Burgas in the 1/16 finals of the tournament, will face the winner of the return leg between Lube Civitanova and Groningen, which is being played later today.
