Nickyc707

Lol. Pity the same cannot be said of Belgium. The stats between England and Scotland a team who had only beaten them once ever: possession 64-36%, shots at goal 22-9. Meanwhile in the Netherlands game against Belgium who had beaten them in their previous match in this tournament: possession 71-29%, shots at goal 32-6. To cap it all they played eight minutes of overtime to make sure the Netherlands got the goal they needed. If there was a questionable game tonight it wasn't between Scotland and England.

It's interesting isn't it. In the previous game between the Netherlands and Belgium the latter won 2-1. Now suddenly they seem impotent with just one shot at goal in the first half compared with the Netherlands' eleven and just 24% possession. It's almost as if the Belgians are trying to help their neighbours.

So much for the "Auld Alliance", Ben. Nothing, nothing woujd make Scotland throw a match against England in any sports match. It's a long time since Scotland have beaten England and prior to the two most recent matches between the sides England beat them 6-0. England haven't played well in this tournament but they're not duffers as recent World Cup finalists. UEFA have a lot to answer for for having put the players of all four countries in this group in such an invidious position. It isn't fair on anyone and does the reputation of football no good whatsoever.

All those additional mixed events! 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️

Worth pointing out that race walking began in an English speaking country that also produced many Olympic champions and medallists in the sport during its long history.

ARTHUR Cisse, Josh?

Thanks. I was going by the rankings as they were on 8/11/23. I guess they must have been updated since then.

Not sure your numbers are right. Woolley came here with a 16 pt lead over the Iranian and picked up another 15 pts by reaching the quarter-final.

I think Cunningham has already done enough to qualify. All his closest rivals lost early too. Three of the four semi-finalists could overtake him but only if they win and he can afford to drop one spot. Just a cursory look but I think he's okay. Age is on McGowan's side and the writing has perhaps been on the wall for Cook (Walkden) for the past two years with her rival picking up podium finishes at the 2022 and 2023 World Champs.

I'm not disputing that basketball in GB is appalling badly run but it was Wales not England or Scotland which resisted a merger of the three federations. https://www.bbc.com/sport/wales/18558227

It doesn't have to go on. There is a simple solution, albeit it is apparently beyond the competence of UEFA, and that is to ensure that England, Scotland and Wales don't compete together in the same qualifying group. It isn't rocket science as football always manipulates its draws for the major competitions to ensure countries aren't draw together, e.g. World Cup finals.

You may be right but Belgium has already beaten the Netherlands in the reverse fixture. Don't write off Scotland. They've already held Belgium to two draws, the Netherlands went to Scotland and only managed a single goal while they held England to 2-1 in their first meeting in Sunderland. I really do think any of the three contenders could still qualify although the Netherlands are clear favourites. As I and others have already mentioned any Scottish (or English) team that threw a match between the two in any sport would go down in infamy - think Chicago White (Black) Sox, 1919 but much much worse.

Scotland and England basketballl didn't seem to have any problem uniting as GB for the Olympics. After all English and Scottish clubs compete together in the same league. The country with the issues this time is Wales. The issue only really arises in some team sports and has more than 150 years of sporting competition behind it with the first recognised international matches in both sports being between England and Scotland - rugby union (1871), football (1872).

In one sense you're right. For the sake of probity England, Scotland and Wales should never be in the same group when Olympic qualification is at stake. Why UEFA has allowed it is beyond comprehension. In another sense you're worrying about nothing. Neither England or Scotland would EVER roll over for the other in any sporting contest no matter what was at stake, particularly when they are the home side as Scotland are on this occasion. They would never be able to return home again. Anyway don't exclude Belgium from this. If they complete the double over the Netherlands and Scotland/England is a draw they'll be going to Paris not GB or NED.

If you mean the Grand Prix it's the first ever win for GB although they have previously won eleven medals of other colours in ice dancing.

For perhaps Toby Roberts in sport climbing. He's currently no.2 in the boulder and lead world rankings and gained a quota at the recent European qualifier by a comfortable margin. He's still only eighteen and improving rapidlly. It's a bit of a cop out given it's only the sport's second appearance at the OG. Anyway it definitely won't be in artistic swimming, basketball, breaking, rhythmic gymnastics, handball, surfing, table tennis or volleyball which are the other sports in which they've never won a medal.

Didn't even known that wheelchair volleyball is a sport. Do you mean sitting volleyball (they sit on the court)?

Is that individual or team dressage, Josh?

You're right Josh. Too used to the old medieval English spelling of the name I guess. 😊

Plus Afghanistan's strong performance.

I wouldn't completely dismiss the chances of Ireland or South Korea qualifying but the three you mention will start as favourites.

Why not? They should qualify.

I apologise if this was reported at the time but 2023 saw the death of Félix Sienra of who passed away in January two weeks after becoming the longest lived Olympian at the age 107 years and 9 days. He competed in sailing at the 1948 OG. As an aside he also attended - and was almost certainly the last survivor of ‐ the first football World Cup final in 1930 when Uruguay lifted the inaugural trophy after defeating Argentina 4–2 in Montevideo. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/olympian-felix-sienra-uruguay-dies-1948-summer-olympics-b1057223.html https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Félix_Sienra https://acsweb.ucsd.edu/~ptchir/centenarians.html

I'm not sure how many more qualifying events there are before the Olympic ranking list closes on 3rd December but the final event is the World Grand Prix final where most of the remaining points are at stake. "All athletes will get ranking points. The points will be reflected on WT World Ranking and WT Olympic Ranking. The ranking points per winners of the competition shall be allocated as follows." 1st – 100.00 pts 2nd – 60.00 3rd – 36.00 4th – 21.60 5th – 15.12 9th – 10.58 Opportunities still exist for athletes to get themselves into a qualifying spot, particularly as there are some really close battles for qualification in some of the weight classes. http://m.worldtaekwondo.org/competition/view.html?nid=140620&mcd=D32&sc=in

I think there are potentially much stronger csndidates than Radacanu. However, as a two time Olympic champion as well as a multiple Grand Slam winner, I think Murray has a good insurance policy if he doesn't orherwise qualify and fancies playing on clay again. Norrie needs to perform well in the first half of next year and take advantage of his much higher ATP ranking in the two remaining GS tournies before the rankings close.