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Soccer-Greek league ready to resume after attack on official

By Graham Wood ATHENS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Greece's SuperLeague elected Giorgos Borovilos as president on Monday and asked the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) to lift the suspension on professional matches imposed after a refereeing official was attacked by two men. Borovilos, who is the president of Asteras Tripolis, secured 13 votes out of the 16 teams in the league, with Panthrakikos chief Dimitris Tzelepis elected as his deputy. No matches were played last weekend after the EPO announced it would not appoint any referees in the wake of the violent attack on 45-year-old Christoforos Zografos, the assistant director of the Central Refereeing Committee (KED). Zografos was severely beaten with wooden clubs by two men on a motorcycle in the Kolonos area of Western Athens in what the EPO described as a "murderous attack". Previous Super League president Dimitris Agrafiotis quit on Friday, leaving the organisation in chaos, though it has quickly regrouped and says clubs are committed to stamping out violence. "All of the clubs clearly condemn the unacceptable and inhuman attack on Mr Zografos and we all wish him a speedy recovery," the Super League said in a letter to the EPO which was published on its website. "The Super League officially requests the Minister of Justice to proceed accordingly and with urgency with all investigations into any open cases concerning football which continue to cast shadows over the game and which are driving fans away from stadiums. "For these reasons we ask you to withdraw your decision made on 14/11/14 and appoint as normal referees for the coming weekend 29-30/11 and 1/12." The EPO was not available to comment on Monday but local media reports said the Super League's united response is likely to pave the way for the suspension to be lifted. All professional matches were suspended on Nov. 14 after Zografos was attacked. The EPO said it would not appoint referees to any league matches until "immediate steps" were taken to protect match officials. Zografos, a former FIFA referee, worked under retired Scottish official Hugh Dallas, who stepped down as head of the KED following the attack and who now provided training and education services for Greek referees. (Editing by Ken Ferris)