By George Georgakopoulos

Komotini club Panthrakikos is likely to join Olympiakos, PAOK and Asteras Tripolis in the semifinals of the Greek Cup, after the first-leg results of the tournament’s quarterfinals on Wednesday and Thursday.

Never before had Panthrakikos reached the last eight of the Cup, but is now poised to become a semifinalist after beating host Veria 1-0 on Wednesday courtesy of a Dimitris Amarantidis own goal. The return leg will take place in Thrace on March 13.

Holder Olympiakos braved the muddy pitch at Ioannina to beat local PAS Giannina 1-0. Its goal came from a Djamel Abdoun free-kick.

Also on Wednesday Asteras Tripolis came from behind to beat Platanias at Hania with a 2-1 score. The Cretan side led with Igor Mirceta, but Asteras scored with Sebastian Bartolini and Ximo Navarro, with the winning goal coming a minute from time.

Levadiakos seemed to be troubling host PAOK at Thessaloniki on Thursday, but the black-and-whites scored twice within three minutes in the second half through Stefanos Athanasiadis (albeit from an offside position) and Dimitris Salpingidis to grab a precious 2-0 win.

The winner of Panthrakikos’s pairing with Veria will face the winner of the Olympiakos vs PAS tie, while the team to emerge from the Levadiakos vs PAOK clash will face one of Asteras Tripolis and Platanias for a spot in the final to take place at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.