pdr4332

Well, yes, even some of the really gigantic sum of money spent on the footballers is sort of beginning to pay off, LOL And I say this as someone who is a big fan of the HU women's handball team since the famous/infamous 2000 Olympics

FIL looking for new Luge World Cup final venue after event in Beijing postponed https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1101277/luge-world-cup-beijing-postponed ”The International Luge Federation (FIL) is seeking an alternative venue for its Luge World Cup final after postponing the event in Beijing in February, which had been due to serve as a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Yanqing National Sliding Center had been set to host an international training week for Beijing 2022 before the World Cup final, scheduled to run from February 19 to 21. In a statement, the FIL said it had postponed the events because of the coronavirus pandemic.”

I will probably watch Sky News of UK (it is on youtube) Maybe it will be less dramatic than the American networks (whatever happens)

Wow, just wow!

This is not the US open topic but the US open is a good example on how NOT to manage the Covid pandemic in an international competition! Mannarino who was in the same situation as Mladenovic, was allowed to play one day earlier. And the organizers then just said "oh this is not depending on us but the Nassau county health department"! There is only one Olympics every 4 years and it cannot happen that athlete X can compete then athlete Y in the same situation cannot. And the organizers then say "oh this was the Tokyo prefecture health department" There should be a consistent, predictable and transparent process on how someone suspected of Covid is quarantined, separated, etc. and under which circumstances one can be barred from competing. This should be communicated to the athletes well in advance and then adhered to by everyone. I do believe that the Olympics can happen even under Covid but the organizers should learn from the blunders of this year's US open!

Not surprising, well now I hope that the European part of the world cup at least will be able to go ahead.

Aand here we go - winter sport event cancellations to begin: https://www.isu.org/isu-news/news/145-news/13250-isu-world-cup-speed-skating-isu-world-cup-short-track-speed-skating-events-in-2020?templateParam=15&fbclid=IwAR39elRcMY5f936s-bb0JzCA_H-2mvybVXZitjds_qxJI8llnzLuI-1IjWw The following ISU World Cup Speed Skating Competitions are therefore cancelled: Tomaszow-Mazowiecki, POL November 13-15, 2020 Stavanger, NOR November 20-22, 2020 Salt Lake City, USA December 4-6, 2020 Calgary, CAN December 11-13, 2020 The following ISU World Cup Short Track Competitions are therefore cancelled: Montreal, CAN November 6-8, 2020 Laval, CAN November 13-15, 2020 Of course it makes sense as these are indoor events. But still remains to be seen whether and how "classic" winter events like alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross country, etc. will be affected

Surprise for and Ferencvaros! If in the next draw they get an "easier" opponent in the 3rd round and manage to win, they get again to the Europa League group stage (as I dont think they will able to win in the PO round even if they win in the 3rd - plus the PO round is two legs)

Steve Bannon was arrested yesterday for fraud. For me, this is definitely one of the best news of 2020 so far. It is doubly ironic what he was indicted for (embezzling money for his luxury spending), considering that he always had this lie of being "the common man", sth nobody in Europe ever believed about him (I remember he went to the Czech Republic in 2018 to speak and was almost laughed out of the room for all the nonsense)

Plus, in second half of October, early Nov it is not ideal racing weather in Canada, even if the F1 wanted to got to the other half of the planet (a logistical and quarantining nightmare in these conditions) just for one race. This is why I think that the Malaysia rumor mentioned in the topic earlier would make sense only if they also can go to Vietnam (not a sure thing) So probably they will stick to Eur + Mideast this year - not ideal of course but at least they could pull off even this (and so far without much Covid infections)

The rumored tracks confirmed today, at the same time, Mexico, Brazil, USA and Canada officially cancelled. The replacement races to be called Eifel Grand Prix (GER), Portoguese Grand Prix and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix (Imola). Cancellation of China is just matter of time, and probably Vietnam goes with it. So this is shaping up to be an Europe-Middle East season. (Provided Bahrain and Abu Dhabi can be held, - IMO not much loss for the latter, if not)

At least not Merc 1-2... :D :D

Let's hope it will be possible next year then. Will be curious if we can co-host the UEFA Euro 2020/21 next year here in Budapest Thankfully the other major events I am interested in to be held in Budapest will be later - Handball ECh in 2022 and Athletics WCh in 2023 - hopefully Covid will be sorted out for then. Well I said today to someone that in Summer 1914, the emperor of Austria-Hungary said to the people that the war will be over by autumn - we all know how that turned out. Hopefully the Covid-19 pandemic will be different...

Planned to attend the Tokyo games without Covid-19? OT: I know about my family that my sister wanted to do the Chicago marathon this year (she was admitted last year) obviously due to Covid it will not happen. Generally the if you are admitted they permit to postpone the participation for 1 year at most - after this year's marathon was cancelled last week, the gave the opportunity for all participants to be able to postpone until 2023 as latest - maybe they know that next year not everything will be alright...

From today on, Hungary introduced the red-yellow-green list system already in place for several European countries. For the countries on the green list, no additional restrictions are in place (most EU countries and Switzerland) For the countries on the yellow list the entry of local and foreign citizens is permitted subject to quarantine or 2 negative tests from the last 5 days (from the EU Portugal, Sweden, Romania, Bulgaria + the UK are in this category) For the countries on the red list the entry of foreign citizens is not permitted, for the entry of local citizens the conditions of the previous category apply (in Europe most of the Western Balkan countries, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus)

Would give 6/10 to the race as well. A least there was action in the places 2 to 10. Too bad that Ocon was retired he likely lost a points finish. On the other hand, how worse it can get for the Ferrari? Getting eliminated in Q1 like the McLaren-Honda's a few years ago?

My no1 question after seeing the Ferrari today: if this does not improve during the season, and the Mercedes seat does not materialize for Vettel from next year (as expected), can the resulting loss of motivation push Vettel to throw in the towel and retire after 2020? NB. not anti-Vettel, just asking

Hopefully we all can certainly agree that indoor bars, clubs and parties did not help in the US. Even Fauci pointed out that as one of the main vector of transmission of Covid-19. The major of Belgrade, Serbia, announced new emergency measures, among them to close indoor-only clubs and bars between 23.00 and 06.00 The major specifically said that the majority of new infections in Belgrade can be traced to this kind of venues. Regarding the US, you know they are in deep sh*t when even Trump start to say that the masks are not so bad after all, the Gov of Texas starts to require masks for their citizens, (and gets panned for it from his own ultra-partisan simpatizers) and Florida Gov Ron "open for business" DeSantis warns people to avoid crowds, etc. https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/texas-conservatives-lose-their-minds-after-gop-gov-greg-abbott-mandates-masks-in-public/

Oh yes, these are also part of the "exceptions", but for different reasons. Good demonstration of the class of rocket scientists calling themselves "hardcore fans" who heywoodu says "barely even know how to write the world rule, let alone listen to them" Edit: watched the video, it is additional source of LOL what it is said in the background (maybe ppl in the proximity of the person making the video, or the video maker himself): for example instructing the fans in the pitch do not insult the player who scored Debrecen's only goal, then the loudspeaker says "please guys leave them alone", then in the end someone chanting "traitor, traitor" to the approaching police...

In Hungary there were already fans in the stadium during the last few rounds of the 1st league, which concluded yesterday. But as the attendance figures in the Hungarian club football are so low (with only a few exceptions), I assume social distancing was not a problem

One more: EHF handball Women's Champions League Final 4 cancelled (was to be held in Budapest in early September) Was announced by EHF today

Please accept my condolences. Did they have any known preexisting condition? Admittedly, here in HU the number of deaths is so low as it is probably not representative for the covid-19 disease as a whole but all but one of the few under-40 people here who died had known preexisting condition, making them more vulnerable to the disease. "Discipline" seems to be slipping everywhere, though not in equal measure. Here the wearing of masks is still compulsory in public transport and shops, pharmacies, malls, etc. and it is generally complied with (without asking) but ppl seem to be less careful. Granted, right now there is not much community transmission but with the holiday season the number of imported cases will rise. I think as an outsider, in the Western Balkans (Srb/Mac/Kos/BIH) there might be even more "irresponsibility". Djokovic's Adria Tour is a good example for that (I refer to how the organizers did organize it, and sometimes how common sense was disregarded). The tennis correspondent of the sports daily here penned an opinion piece calling out some specific instances of carelessness with that tournament (like the after game party for players) But would be interested in hearing from the Croatian posters here what exactly happened (apart from the fact that several players were infected), and whether these allegations are true (I do not follow tennis that much, just read the articles in the local sport press about this event)

Approaching another grim milestone: 10,000,000 cases and 500,000 deaths in a few days (right now 9.680 thousand and 488 thousand per worldometer) 45% of all covid deaths in the world only in three countries: USA, UK, and Brazil...

Sorry, did not imply any connection (the article didnt do it either) Hopefully the increase of ICU numbers is just temporary

Now there is a tribute program to him on one of the Hungarian sports channels. It is confirmed that he had a serious illness (it is said to be cancer but this is not disclosed officially) But would make sense, as he was only 48... In May 2020 he retired from coaching and other waterpolo related activities ( I think he was also active in the Federation), probably becasue of his illness (back then only "personal reasons" were said) TV also shows now that a lot of people are queueing on the Margaret Island (over 100 or several hundred meters long) in front of the National Swimming Complex (Alfred Hajos), site of several international competitions, to light a candle in memory of him (there is a small "shrine" with a big photo of Benedek) A big loss to Hungarian sport, and water polo in general. RIP.