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Putin challenges Biden to a live TV debate. Like I say, it seems like the US media are the only people in the world who DON’T know what a senile old geezer Biden is. https://nationalfile.com/breaking-putin-calls-bidens-bluff-challenges-him-to-televised-live-debate/

anddd in a very tough battle ENKHBAT Lkhagvasuren beat JARGALSAIKHAN Munkhzorig 4-0 to win the men's East Asian quota

So Mongolia had to defeat in one match another athlete from Mongolia to qualify for the Olympics ? wtf ? I mean seriously ?

World Rowing has updated the qualification system: "Where there are no further crews to which qualifying places can be allocated, such places shall be added to the qualifying places in the same event at the Final Qualification regatta."

GROUP A : 1-0

You are still in better position than for example me, there is still 20 songs in the race for points and I have just few hours left to vote

Only 10 athletes will be allowed to compete in Tokyo under the ANA flag was announced today

so at the end of the day 3 2 1 what a pleasant surprise at the end, Khramiankou just beat Sharipov by a last second takedown. good challenge from the Belarusian coach. and Sharipov himself knew he lost the match even before the final confirmation. I think Tedeev (Russian FS head coach who was absent here) is going to kill him right at the airport he better takes refugee in Hungary and Azerbaijan lost another "supposed to be" easy quota. this time to Germany, grandpa Magomedov gassed after 30-40 seconds and the German guy pushed him out of the mat like 100 times. interesting point, only 1 of 12 seeded wrestlers qualified for Tokyo (Vangelov) that says enough about the seeding system. the best wrestler of the day: Khramiankou

yeah shame there no south asia team qualification tournament

First male quota I hope this is finally the breakthrough for Vangelov. Very composed and tactical match.

Semifinals (qualification wrestle-off) matches are scheduled for 18:00 local time let's take a look at what happened today so far 57kg: Vangelov vs Bazarganov //// Harutyunyan vs Yatsenko no surprise in this weight, these 4 were expected to be here. impressed by Harutyunyan, he had a tough draw, still has some cardio issues but I think he and Bazarganov qualify at the end. it was a terrible day for Ukraine, Yatsenko is their last chance. 65kg: Aliyev vs Sacultan //// Gadzhiev vs Tevanyan only a miracle can deny Aliyev an Olympic quota. but the other semifinal will be close. the only surprise here was Khinchegashvili's defeat. but was that really a surprise?! Tevanyan won the world cup in December and proved himself. before the COVID he wrestled in an event in Iran and lost to everybody and after a year he came back someone different!! still he almost lost to Skriabin but somehow turned the table in the last minute. I think he surprised Khincheghasvhili early in the match otherwise the Olympic champion could find a way to beat him. it will be hard to predict his match vs Gadzhiev who wasn't in his best shape today. Gadzhiev was down 4-0 against Bucur and I think scored the winning point only in the last 5 seconds. I think Tevanyan is slightly the favorite here. 74kg: Gadzhiyev vs Vasilioglo //// Kentchadze vs Umarpashaev no surprise for the first 3 quarters but wow, what a day for Umarpashaev, he was man of the day (or at least the morning session) with his throwing techniques ! after pinning Salkazanov, he also threw the tricky Russian/Belarusian for 4 at the start of the match and managed to get a 4-4 win. on paper Kentchadze is the favorite but he has to watch out for the Bulgarian, otherwise he will fly too! I remember Khadjiev made him fly at the Worlds in Nur-Sultan so that's not impossible at all. have to mention Demirtas who was very unlucky against BLR. he did all the works but his opponent won 8-7! on the top half the last hope of the host nation Kuramagomedov was leading the entire match against Gadzhiyev but lose the match in the last 3-4 seconds. Vasilioglo isn't completely without the chance against this guy who wasn't impressive at all. 86kg: Magamev vs Shabanov //// Gocen vs Makoev apparently Makoev wrestles good once in 4 years! he did nothing special after his silver medal at the worlds in 2017 but then today he woke up a different wrestler! he dominated Aminashvili who just beat my favorite Polish guy! he will face Gocen who somehow beat Abakarov (was lucky to be honest) today morning I would say Gocen but based on what I saw Makoev is the favorite. on the top half I was expecting Magamaev to face Shabanov in the SF but he was much better than what I was expecting, on other hand Shabanov was just lucky to salvage a 1-1 win against Ianulov. I think this will be 50/50 97kg: Conyedo vs Hushtyn //// Thiele vs Karadeniz Thiele was the only surprise semifinalist for me , but I knew he is tough to score on. he beat Baran and he has a chance in the SF. Karadeniz beat Saritov in the most important match of the morning (for this weight) I have to say Saritov was the better wrestler must of the match but I guess at the end he gassed because of his age. Hushtyn vs Conyedo will be interesting. Hushtyn almost lost his QF match but a very late pushout kept his hopes alive. they are two different types of wrestlers. really hard to predict. 125kg: Magomedov vs Cudinovic //// Khramiankov vs Sharipov really really impressed by Khramiankou. if you watched his matches, he is half the size of his opponents but beat them by pure technique! I'm not sure if that works against Russia unfortuantely! Sharipov had a very hard time against Baran, I somehow feel sorry for the Polish guy, he deserved the quota much more than Magomedov on the top half and was leading 2-0 Sharipov for a long time but couldn't defend well in the crucial moments.

Literally every comment on social media says "unfair" "why not the other countries" "Cancel the the tournament" lol

With limited space there are always going to be athletes/teams that "deserve it" missing out. That's competition; we don't award medals to the highest ranked entrants, they have to earn it. Nobody is entitled to a spot.

Good to see Canada accepting all of their quotas this time.

Update: The Turkish player is also withdrawn... Now for many people in Indonesia, badminton is suddenly a matter of life or death.

https://olympic.ca/2021/03/18/nine-sailors-nominated-to-team-canada-for-tokyo-2020/ Team announced Sarah Douglas (Toronto, ON) – Laser RadialNikola Girke (West Vancouver, BC) – RS:XWilliam Jones (Jerseyville, ON) and Evan DePaul (Burlington, ON) – 49erTom Ramshaw (Toronto, ON) – FinnJacob Saunders (Chester, NS) and Oliver Bone (Montreal, QC) – 470Ali ten Hove (Kingston, ON) and Mariah Millen (Toronto, ON) – 49erFX

dumb typo, sorry, fog off course

What ?

Wow, this must be the most anticlimactic decision ever in the overall, especially the women's It was a pretty nice fight between a technical specialist and a speed specialist. Well, RIP that.

checking the rules I was right, they have to attend the second weigh-in and if they fail (to appear or be overweight) they will be disqualified. unless they have a note from the UWW doctor confirming their injury! in this case they will just lose the remaining matches. but I assume faking an injury and getting that note won't be that hard. will be a busy weekend for the UWW doctors in the arena

I am still waiting China's participation that our press announced

She doesnt abandon the country and the Evo Morales followers take revenge, clasical facts in this part of the world.

77-Starčević u 1.kolu na poljaka dok na,ako ga prođe u 1/4 ga čeka 1 favorit azerbajđanin sulejman 60-lizatovic u 1.kolu na talijana sandrova 67-janecic u 1.kolu na turčina yuksela 87-huklek postavljen za 1 favorita, u 1 kolu ide na armenca shashiyana 130-koscevic u 1 kolu na rumunja rosceva

Greco now. I didn't really went deep into the draw to check head to head results etc. I promised to write something tonight. I try to be as accurate as I can. 60kg: Kerem Kamal is the top seed and probably the favorite in the top half. but he has a tough draw. first GEO, then MDA/BLR and later HUN/BUL/NOR in the SF. if we don't count that Romanian guy (and GEO who is a bit new). 6 of them are accomplished wrestlers ! I like Ciobanu's style, I didn't notice him in the original entry list. I pick him but that will be close between all these guys. kind of interesting BUL is trusting the old guy Angelov. he won bronze in Ukraine recently and did good. does his body survive 2 tough matches ? the bottom half is less "crowded" I think Lizatovic is the favorite to win the 3rd quarter but whoever comes from the last part will be the favorite. I think we will see another AZE/ARM battle in the QF. Gharibyan is the current European Champion so he is pick. My prediction: 67kg: Thoresen surprised everybody at the Euro, where he won the title. I think his first round match vs Korpasi is the real final for that part of the draw. Korpasi has to cut a lot to make weight, but HUN is the host and refs can do miracles in Greco from the rest 6 guys I only see Islamov as a threat . bottom half is much harder with so many good (but no great) wrestlers. UKR, GEO, TUR, AZE, ARM, ROU they are capable of winning the quota but I want to go with Sahakyan. he has bye in the first round which will help him in the 2nd round too. My prediction: 77kg: well, today is Azerbaijan's lucky day Suleymanov has no big opponent in front of him but then this is Greco, one caution and your opponent can collect lots of points in parterre. nothing is guaranteed. I saw Gutu at the world cup , he is talented but still something like 18. can surprise AZE for sure, then Starcevic and Wolny, I think they are all in the same level. in the 2nd quarter I really don't know any of these guys I saw the French guy at Ukraine, he probably wins that part. we were supposed to see Vlasov vs Nemes here. but Russia had a late minute change, it's Chekhirkin now. he has a very tough draw with Eisele and Bolkvadze, if he survives, that's most probably Nemes ! can he survive 3 tough matches in a row without much time to recover? I have hard time to pick between RUS and SRB here. I think it will get into the hands of the refs. I think Cengiz will win the 3rd quarter but lose the SF. My prediction: 87kg: poor Huklek. what a reward for being the top seed! Shahinyan, then Gobadze/Basar! and then Russia! both Basar and Gobadze won the world title before. it's just hard to pick between those 3 guys but whoever wins will be underdog against Russia. sorry it's impossible to not pick Russia in this sport but Alirzaev is new to this weight and his first match against Datunishvili won't be easy at all. and when AZE had to be in bottom half because of the seedings, all big guys fell in the top half just luck? it's just getting hard to believe it. I know almost all European Greco wrestlers are tough and you can't underestimate anybody but Abbasov couldn't ask for an easier draw. the fact he has a bye in the first round will help him in the 2nd round too. Aleksandrov is probably his only serious obstacle. My prediction: 97kg: not a lucky draw for Nikoloz Kakh. he has Ukraine and then former European Champion from Norway. (or Belarus) all these 4 guys are good enough to beat each other. and I think in heavier weights we will have so many lucky 1-1 wins. FRA, GER and FIN are also good in the 2nd quarter. I don't know much about the Swedish guy. I really like that Finnish wrestler. I think he will meet our Georgian/Italian friend in the SF. Azerbaijan is still in the easier half, but this time it's not that easy. Milov (BUL) has an easier first round. I think he will survive the QF as well (which is not easy at all) Lokyaev is a world junior bronze medalist from Russia. I think Milov can handle him. My prediction: 130kg: do I need to say AZE is in the easier half ? I think most matches will finish 1-1 and will be decided by "luck" I think AZE and ROU will wrestle in the SF. but anything can happen. none of these guys are "unbeatable" the Romanian guy won a very surprising gold medal in the last Euro. Semenov was the one nobody wanted to face. unlike most of super heavy weight guys he can throw and he does it very well. My prediction:

Wait, what ? when exactly did I say something like that. You put words in my mouth that I never said. I have never claimed that there are the same number of disciplines. after all, it is obvious. I'm just trying the millionth time to explain that Petra deserve fully the globe, the calendar was created early before the season, everyone knew what it would look like. Is it Petra who created the calendar ? Is it Magoni who created this schedule ? Is it their faults FIS schedulled more technical events than speed races ? and yet they removed all parallel slaloms (Petra top discipline) and replaced them by only 1 Parallel GS, they never replaced the cancelled GS from Sestriere, where Petra was btw leading after the 1st run. The GS was the only cancelled race of the season until today Downhill. The rules and schedule were the same for everyone, go and shout at the clouds that FIS is unfair with its world cup schedulling.. Once again, No one prevented Lara from racing in slaloms and trying to collect some points. who know, mabe she would earn here 10 points, there another 15 and so... Petra sacrified GS & SL trainings to learn speed disciplines, entered all downhill of the season, although she is piss poor bad in them. Even so, she yet managed to collect some valuable points, these points can very well decide in the end. and I really have also other things to do than constantly repeat the same words and arguments like a parrot, so, I will not longer bether myself with this. Cheer to whoever you want, think whatever you want. I hope Petra will win it, because she deserve it and even if she will fail, nevermind, she already made miracles based on the situation and all circumstances, so for me the case is closed

Now you are in the realms of science fiction.

Mongolia - table tennis Also basketball, since 3x3 is counted under the same sport.

No. The rules do not allow this, precisely in order to avoid such eventual situation and favor a domestic skier, the rules for the World Cup Finals have been invented and unchanged for decades already. In the case of cancellation of any of the races, it cannot be replaced by any other races. It also can not be moved to any other date and must take place only on the originally determined day (obviously the only change permitted is to postpone the start time but again only in that given day).

To be honest, we should be looking at removal of events rather than reduction of quotas. Any team event with fewer than 12 nations and any individual event with fewer than 16 entrants should either be removed or expanded. If an event's talent pool becomes too diluted than it isn't exactly worthy of competing at the Olympics. The IOC may claim it is trying to reduce costs, but athletes themselves aren't the issue. It's the venue size (and amount) requirements

Yeah, first position Not sure for the third man. He will have to get points on these last competitions.

a Covid cluster with 30+ positive people has been recorded after the Sabre events in Budapest... Japan look to be the team paying the highest prize with 5+ positive members of their staff (athletes, coaches, trainers and officials)... this could potentially lead to another stoppage of the international activity and cancellation of the next events on the calendar... the news in French: https://www.lequipe.fr/Escrime/Actualites/Cluster-a-budapest-lors-de-la-manche-de-coupe-du-monde-de-sabre/1233476

And welcome to another shitshow where Indonesian team is forced to withdraw from All England in accordance to British government regulation because they are “in the same flight with an anonymous positive patient” While the Turkish player who is also in the same flight will be playing her second round match today