CCB

Thanks for the positive vibes!! Hahahahaha. We need this positive vibe right now, because Italy won the first set

Yes, still possible, but not a lot of confidence in a Dutch win tonight. Italy will be too strong for us. And Serbia in trouble against Poland .....

Hopefully Korea can recover from this third set, because Russia doesn't deserve to be in the Olympics again.

Oh no Korea, losing 7 points in a row ... how is this possible???

Indeed, Italy/Netherlands is important, but Italy/Netherlands and Turkey are way better than the Russian team. So only three European teams at the OG: Serbia, Italy and - most likely - Turkey.

Most easy group is for Russia. Russia isn't that good anymore, but because of the money they are still higher at the World Rankings. In all major competitions from August 2016 (Olympic Games, European Championships, World Championships and all Grand Prix/Nation Leagues) the team of The Netherlands ranked higher ... how is it still possible that Russia is higher on the World Rankings and has such an easy group? They must have paid for keeping their World Cup Results from 2015 ... otherwise they should have big trouble to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

How is this possible? Really ITA, NED, ESP and ISR in the same group? Those four countries are - by far - the best teams in Europe!

Hopefully Italy will win the quota, they are way better then GB for years, so it would feel unjustified when GB grabs the spot.

How do you mean "always award this kind of tournaments to the Dutch federation"? Last softball Olympic qualifier in 2007 was in Italy, and the baseball qualifier is in Italy as well ...

Oh yes, they will!!

I think so too. Too many runs against (5). Did GB have different players than at the Europeans last month?

Dutch team is very weak suddenly. Too bad, because they were the best European team in the past years. A loss today means GB and Italy will play for the Olympic quota.

- 7-0 Netherlands, GB, Italy and Czech Republic or France in the mainround.

Normally Dutch NOC has additional standards for all sports. There's another "problem": imagine that Toussaint (backstroke) is injured, Netherlands really no has another backstroke swimmer (male or female) at world level. That could still be a reason for Dutch NOC to withdraw the team. Dutch NOC is quite strict!

doesn't play their best game today against , "only" 3-0 after 3rd. GB really looks strong, will be a dangerous opponent for Italy and Netherlands

But you never know with the Dutch NOC ... sometimes they throw away quotas for no reason.

Unfortunately Dutch media won't give this Olympic qualifier any attention. Maybe I take a live look in Utrecht at Saturday.

The Dutch women lead 9:0 against South Africa, 2nd inning hasn't finished yet. Looks like The Netherlands, Italy and GB will fight for the Olympic ticket.

There's no clear reason for it, but I always like the Scandinavian teams and athletes (maybe because of my dog has Danish roots ... a Great Dane). I definitely not cheer for , despite Belgium is our neighbour.

Well done Duncan Scott!!!!!! Sun is the most disgusting swimmer of all time.

What a bad performance of the Dutch swimmers; the 4x100 relay men didn't qualify (only 16th) and once Ranomi Kromowidjojo was a swimmer of the outside category (three time Olympic champion), now she swims 54,31 in relay. We expected and hoped a bit more, especially after the disappointing results of our open water swimmers.

Problem of Zonderland and Van Vleuten: they will compete in the first weekend, so won't be allowed to participate in the Opening Ceremony. Henk Grol is a good choice too!!

Epke Zonderland (gymnastics, very likeable and pleasant Olympic champion, spectacular gymnast) Annemiek van Vleuten (road cycling, she almost died during last Olympic road race when she was on her way to gold, but crashed) Lobke Berkhout (sailing, she retired in 2012, but decided to come back and qualified surprisingly for the Olympics, won already silver and bronze medals)

wins 14:4 against ... although Greece may be not thát good anymore, a very impressive win for the Spanish team

Wow, after all shoulder problems Sharon van Rouwendaal gets an Olympic place, so she can defend her Olympic title from Rio 2016. Last year in European Championships she was superwoman with 3 golds, this time she expected nothing due to her shoulder. Unfortunately Dutch Esmee Vermeulen didn't qualify, but neither did Muller and Bridi . Quite shocking in my opinion!