NearPup

They are cracking down on this particular rule since June (and they so changed the rule related to when a penalty kick is to be retaken). It had to be pretty obvious before VAR, though.

Unused continental games individual quotas are re-allocated until they reach the 4th place finisher. So has both the men’s and women’s Asian games quota.

This is almost the same call they made in the Spain match against South Africa. If that was a penalty then the ref clearly made the right call this time.

It isn’t suspended by rain, it’s suspended due to lightning in the area. Lightning is a minimum 50 minute delay (play won’t resume until there hasn’t been lightning for 30 minutes, and then teams get 20 minutes to warm up).

Passable first match by Canada. Not impressed but, then again, Canada has a history of starting slow in this tournament.

Would be the first time since 2004. Kind of wild considering Canada has consistently been a top 10 team for that entire stretch.

Gus Kenworthy is also changing allegiance, from to . The change isn’t finalized yet because he hasn’t yet presented an unexpired British passport to the FIS.

They finally fixed the parallel format. That’s quite positive.

Does anybody *not* root for Kasai?

Depends on the sport, for example in hockey when Canada isn’t playing I will usually root for Slovakia, Finland or Latvia because their fans are so passionate.

Well deserved quota for . Glad to see they continued building their women’s rugby 7s program after the Rio Olympics.

I wouldn’t sleep on Colombia, they are capable of an upset (especially if Argentina beats Brazil).

This match is a tragedy.

Good thing we went to ten teams so we would only have competitive matches.

Not dumb, just ridiculously bad luck. It’s obviously a penalty but gosh is it a sad way to start a finals.

His next big chance would be in September, at the World Surf Games. If he is healthy enough then his biggest competition for the European quota will come from Portugal.

From the article about the Cross Country committee: the FIS is finally changing the terminology "ladies" to "women". About time (ladies is the female version of "gentlemen", not "men", always found it a bit annoying that they had men's and ladies' events).

After 3/11 events, the following athletes are provisionally in a qualifying position from the World Surf League. Note: athletes from Hawaii are marked with (HAW) as they compete separately in Surfing. I am only including athletes that are qualified to compete on the tour in the selection battle (theoretically an athlete that isn't on tour could qualify for enough events to be selected, but this is unlikely). Men (HAW) John John Florence Kanoa Igarashi Italo Ferreira Filipe Toledo Kolohe Andino Jordy Smith Jérémy Florès Wade Carmichael Ryan Callinan Michel Bourez Michel Bourez had a good result in Bali, which allowed him to increase his gap over Leonardo Fioravanti. American selection battle: (HAW) John John Florence - 17,415 points Kolohe Andino - 13,875 points Conner Coffin - 11,385 points Kelly Slater - 11,095 points (HAW) Seth Moniz - 9,395 points (HAW) Ezekiel Lau - 2,925 points Griffin Colapinto - 2,925 points (HAW) Sebastian Zietz - 1,860 points A semi-final appearance has propelled 47 year old Kelly Slater, the greatest contest surfer in history and a big influence in getting Surfing in the Olympics, into contention for a spot on the American team. Brazilian selection battle: Italo Ferreira - 16,075 points Filipe Toledo - 15,865 points Gabriel Medina - 10,820 points Michael Rogrigues - 8,745 points Wilian Cardoso - 7,970 points Yago Dora - 5,980 points Peterson Crisanto - 5,980 points Deivid Silva - 5,980 points Jesse Mendes - 4,915 points Jadson Andre - 2,925 points Adriano de Souza - 795 points Michael Rogrigues put himself in the conversation for a potential Olympic spot with a semi-final finish in Bali. Australian selection battle: Wade Carmichael - 10,820 points Ryan Callinan - 10,735 points Owen Wright - 7,970 points Adrian Buchan - 7,405 points Mikey Wright - 5,980 points Julian Wilson - 5,980 points Jack Freestone - 5,980 points Soli Bailey - 2,925 points Carmichael moves up two spots to take the lead of the Australian battle. French selection battle: Jérémy Florès - 12,450 points Michel Bourez - 7,970 points Joan Duru - 4,915 points Florès takes a commanding lead over Bourez and Duru thanks to a runners-up finish in Bali. Women Stephanie Gilmore Caroline Marks Courtney Conlogue Sally Fitzgibbons Brisa Hennessy Tatiana Weston-Webb Johanne Defay Silvana Lima Lima comes back from injury and competes for the first time this season, immediately overtaking Paige Hareb for the last automatic qualification spot. American selection battle (where the real action is on the women's side, the US has 7 of the top 12): Caroline Marks - 18,695 points Courtney Conlogue - 17,355 points (HAW) Carissa Moore - 17,290 points (HAW) Malia Manuel - 16,495 points Lakey Peterson - 11,305 (HAW) Coco Ho - 9,965 The American selection has developed into an extremely close four way race between Marks, Conlogue, Moore and Manuel. They are all basically within one round win of each other at the moment. Australian selection battle: Stephanie Gilmore - 19,490 points Sally Fitzgibbons - 16,495 points Nikki Van Dijk - 11,305 points Bronte Macaulay - 9,965 points Macy Callaghan - 6,265 points Tyler Wright - 3,135 points Van Dijk finished third in Bali, but it didn't help her get a place in Tokyo as Gilmore and Fitzgibbons finished 1-2.

Any chance there will be a stream? IIRC last time no qualifier (other than the men’s repechage) had a stream.

NA winning worlds

Ref almost got decapitated by the puck there.

Ya, one of Australia or Samoa has to go through the repechage and either will be very hard to beat. If Canada fails to qualify the whole of Rugby Canada should be fired xD

The United States, Fiji and New Zealand have qualified for the Olympics. South Africa is in the driver’s seat for the last place from the world series. They can clinch it for sure in London with at least a third place, though that depends on how well England does in the consolation bracket. Even of South Africa fails to make up any more ground this week-end they would qualify for Tokyo just by making out of the group stage next week.

Ya, in hindsight South Korea naturalizing half a dozen player was a really good idea. Not only did it get them some better players but it seemed to help improve their existing players, too.

Short Track Speed Skating Samuel Girard, 22, the 2018 Olympic Champion in the men’s 1000m, is retiring effective immediately because of a lack of motivation and due to being overworked by the national federation. Kasandra Bradette, a fellow 2018 Olympian and Girard’s boyfriend, is also retiring.