Date:09/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/09/stories/2004080904641600.htm

Sport - Olympic Games

Ioannou fighting a different battle

ATHENS, AUG. 8. One week away from competing with the Greek judo team at the Athens Olympics in front of family and friends, Eleni Ioannou instead was fighting for her life on Sunday, after falling from the third-floor balcony of her apartment.

Ioannou had won three National championships and a bronze medal in 1992 in the Balkan championships.

Ioannou, 20, was on life-support in the intensive care ward at Red Cross Hospital with multiple fractures to her head and body, as sobbing relatives kept a vigil in the corridors outside her room. She was in critical but stable condition after undergoing several hours of surgery, according to a doctor at the ICU who spoke on condition of anonymity. — AP