Sports Digest: Gerards testimonial was a truly moving occasion

SOCCER: Veteran players (including a host of Euro 2004 winners) and thousands of fans, mostly OFI supporters, gathered on Monday evening at the Theodoros Vardinoyiannis Stadium of Iraklio to honor Eugene Gerards, the 77-year-old former manager who coached OFI from 1985 to 2000. Although hospitalized, the Dutch who is adored on Crete managed to attend the moving testimonial on his wheelchair. “Dutchman, we shall never forget you,” chanted the OFI fans at the stands.

SOCCER: PAOK has joined AEK at the top of the Super League table by shattering Atromitos’s unbeaten record to win 2-1 at Toumba on Monday. Adelino Vieirinha equalized from the spot (after a controversial penalty decision) Stefanos Strouggis’s goal for Atromitos, and Djalma Campos gave PAOK all three points.

WEIGHTLIFTING: With a kiss on Naim Suleymanoglu’s coffin Greek Olympian Valerios Leonidis bid goodbye to his rival and friend during Sunday’s memorial service in Turkey.