Hungary is simply much better than Italy (it is clear that Orban has been investing much in sports, because they are strong despite their small population) – we haven't beaten them in 20 years or more. A window of opportunity arose when Hungary unexpectedly lost to Slovakia, and we could have advanced, but we didn't capitalize on it. Because of the loss to Slovakia, Hungary won't finish first. However, Italy certainly didn't deserve to advance, since they lost to both Hungary and Slovakia. Our form was simply poor and our best player- Fantin, was out with injured. However, that doesn't change the fact that with seven or eight Canadian players of Fortino caliber, we should have played much better here.

Fantin's injury didn't help, but the fact that the Canadian head coach didn't even show up at the tournament shows certain priorities – only the Olympics were important, and the project will soon be over. I`, sure that half of our Canadian players won't be playing for the Italian national team in a next year. France will qualify, because I don't believe they won't beat Slovakia tomorrow. Congratulations to France for having a long-term vision for this sport, not just for a single home event.

2-3 against Hungary. Big disappointment. Unfortunately, it seems our good form was only to the Olympics and no at the World Championships were crucial for us. We had a big chance against France, because I expected a loss against Hungary. It's also fair to say that Hungary and France, relying primarily on their own athletes and have been better than Italy for many years and even bringing in 7-8 North American athletes didn't help us. Unfortunately, despite advancing to the top 8 for the Olympics, the Italian project will last even shorter than China, as they at least advanced to the elite group. In a year, I suspect we'll be fighting relegation against the Netherlands. In reality, that 8th place at the Olympics means nothing anymore, and in a 1 month, no one will remember it. Even the young girls from Slovakia played better here than us, where there isn't even a single Canadian player. If we finish in 4th place, it will be only 2 positions better than in 2019 - when we had a very weak team.

SkiMo legend  Arno Lietha announced his retirement.

I watched some German TV documentary about Iranian anti-Pahlavi dissidents who supported his overthrow and backed Khomeini only to find out he doesn't want them either and they stayed in exile in France & Germany 

Kicked from this restaurant in vietnam, good english pronounciation    

Because they didn't release all the tickets in the first draw

no one booed him , why you lie     

A miracle just happen: a Dutch judoka won a medal, even gold. Joanne van Lieshout (already World Champion in 2024) had some difficult years, but is back now. Very promising, however she's our only judoka at world level.

A bit of a mixed session for  GB.   The Women's Team Pursuit blew up in the final and were lucky to avoid the overlap. Worth saying the GB were the only medalist that didn't make use of their substitute rider - probably not surprising given the substitute was Lauren Bell. Still a second-tier team was good enough to take a silver.   The Men's Team Pursuit had a nightmare day. Having crashed in the first qualifying run, they did enough on the rerun to get to the 1st round where they did step up and qualify for the bronze medal match. They kept it close against China for the first half before fading pretty badly to finish 4th.   I was a bit surprised that the Women's Team Sprint were beaten by China. They were leading by 0.2 seconds after Bell and Finucane had completed their laps but it looked like Parris-Smith was just way too far back.   The standout was the Men's Team Sprint. I thought they were going to have to settle for the silver but somehow managed to pull it out of the bag in the final lap.        I definitely picked the wrong section of the crowd though - caught between two competing locals. One vocally anti-China, accusing them of cheating and booing every time they were on the track. At one point he was singing God Save the King and Rule Britannia. In the end he was asked to leave.    Biggest cheer of the night was for  Lee Sze Wing's silver in the elimination race.