Federer91

Third title for Petar Mitsin, this time in the 400 free with a new Junior World Record of 3:44.31    He beat Mack Horton's junior record from 2014. This is the first time Bulgaria has any kind of world record in swimming. 
 
If that dumbass Antoni Ivanov hadn't been suspended, we could have had a men's relay at the Olympics...

Another pathetic year in VNL, but at least we are not relegated....
 
There is no other team, that has such a drastic change of performance, after they changed the format of this competition. When it was the old World League we were regularly playing the finals. They switched it and we are always bottom 3-4 teams now.
 
Yes, we are having worst teams/players than before, but i never knew how home dependent we were to get wins. In the WL it was 6 home and 6 away matches, which apparently was a big advantage to us.

Still better than  X AE A-XII Musk

Still better than  X AE A-XII Musk

Still better than  X AE A-XII Musk

Pronounce it like E-fa (the first part is pronounced like the -ee in the word “see” if that makes sense?)

@OlympicIRL Quick off-topic  How to you pronounce "Aoife" ? It's "Ifa" or "Ifie" right? I have 2 Irish colleagues with that name and we have calls from time to time. I don't want to butcher their name 

but look with whom you are tied

Kamenova got the win , but not in the fight style i like. Don't like her figure skating pirouettes and smiling, when getting pound by the Pole.

Didn't know her tbh, so did some research and she has been IBO, WBF, WBA Intercontinental champion, so not maybe not that big of a surprise after all.

I always enjoy watching archery, very relaxing sport.  

We should be [1] 3+1, as we have 3 men's and 1 women's 1/4 left. 

Hosts announced for all the OQTs. 
 
Pan-American QT -  Acapulco;
African & Oceania QT -  Cairo;
European QT -  Baku;
Asian QT -  Bishkek;
World QT -  Istanbul

And we have the first boxing quotas for Paris, which go to  and  in the women's 54 kg. 

Hosts announced for all the OQTs. 
 
Pan-American QT -  Acapulco;
African & Oceania QT -  Cairo;
European QT -  Baku;
Asian QT -  Bishkek;
World QT -  Istanbul

A little recap of the BG performance so far, even if not many people are considering us for the quotas  I still think we should be getting a few quotas on our hands.
 
M 51 kg - Asenov lost in the 1/8 to  Slominski, which was a bit of a surprise, but it was expected he won't get a quota, when the bracket came out. There was no way he beats  Bennama and  MacDonald back to back, so it was an expected miss. Still Asenov was our only man in Tokyo and hopefully he gets it at the WQT.
 
M 57 kg - 1/8 Javier Ibanez vs.  Bondarchuk is today. He had a great win in his first match against  Gallagher, but Ukrainian fighters are notoriously difficult, so i think this is going to be the tougher match, then the potential 1/4 against  Bazeyan. If he wins today, have faith, that Ibanez gets the quota.
 
M 63.5 kg - 1/4 Rosenov vs.  Guruli . Direct match and while Rosenov has shown growth in the last year or so, he is not the favourite here. Gurili has bronzes from the last 2 Worlds and a Euro silver and think, they would give him the win. Rosenov should be good for a quota from the WQT.
 
M 71 kg - 1/8 Kiwan vs.  Abbasov. Abbasov wasn't at the Worlds for Serbia, so not sure, what his form is right now. Plus he gained weight from last year, from what i see, so would give advantage to Kiwan. Then it's between the winner of  and  for the quota, which looks like another equal match up. I think Kiwan has a good chance, if the judges let him. 
 
M 80 kg - Q loss for Nikolov against  Veocic. Nothing surprising here, as Nikolov loses in the first round every single tournament. Veocic should get the quota.
 
M 92 kg - We had no one here, which was strange, as Pantaleev is a former World medalist. Probably he is injured or something.
 
M 92+ kg - 1/8 Hernandez vs.  Lenzi . Hernandez is a sand bag, so no chance he wins this. 
 
Overall i expect at least 1 quota (most likely Ibanez) and 2 would be job well done. 
 
On the women's side:
 
W 50 kg - Q loss for Chukanova against  Rok - Watched the match and feel they gave a host nation win for Rok. Doesn't matter, as  Cakiroglu is odds on favourite for the quota from this category either way. I hope they give a chance to Sevda Asenova in the WQT, who is in the -48 kg category, but is a much better fighter then Chukanova.
 
W 54 kg - 1/4 Petrova vs.  Lehane. Direct match. Petrova is by far our strongest woman and already beat an Ukrainian. Lehane seems like a new name to the Irish team, but they always turn out to be great fighters. Still giving the edge for Petrova and the quota.
 
W 57 kg - 1/8 Kamenova vs.  Nechita. First match for Kamenova and i don't know in what form she is coming here. Nechita isn't someone with big successes and i'm fairly confident Kamenova wins this one. Then it is between  and  , which on paper is a pefect draw. All the big favorites  Testa,  Walsh and  Zidani are distributed in the other sections, so this is the best path to an Olympic quota you could get. But the same goes for the hosts as well. 
 
W 60 kg - 1/8 loss for Mehmedova against  Beram. Expected loss, Mehmedova has never shown potential of reaching the end phase of a tournament. Maybe if she gets a favorable draw at the WQT, she can squeak a quota, but not counting on it.
 
W 66 and 75 kg - no participations here. Looks like we can't find boxers to fill these heavier categories, which is unfortune, as we have only 4 to 6 boxers fighting for a quota.
 
Overall, frankly i would be disappointed, if both Petrova and Kamenova don't get quotas here. 

A little recap of the BG performance so far, even if not many people are considering us for the quotas  I still think we should be getting a few quotas on our hands.
 
M 51 kg - Asenov lost in the 1/8 to  Slominski, which was a bit of a surprise, but it was expected he won't get a quota, when the bracket came out. There was no way he beats  Bennama and  MacDonald back to back, so it was an expected miss. Still Asenov was our only man in Tokyo and hopefully he gets it at the WQT.
 
M 57 kg - 1/8 Javier Ibanez vs.  Bondarchuk is today. He had a great win in his first match against  Gallagher, but Ukrainian fighters are notoriously difficult, so i think this is going to be the tougher match, then the potential 1/4 against  Bazeyan. If he wins today, have faith, that Ibanez gets the quota.
 
M 63.5 kg - 1/4 Rosenov vs.  Guruli . Direct match and while Rosenov has shown growth in the last year or so, he is not the favourite here. Gurili has bronzes from the last 2 Worlds and a Euro silver and think, they would give him the win. Rosenov should be good for a quota from the WQT.
 
M 71 kg - 1/8 Kiwan vs.  Abbasov. Abbasov wasn't at the Worlds for Serbia, so not sure, what his form is right now. Plus he gained weight from last year, from what i see, so would give advantage to Kiwan. Then it's between the winner of  and  for the quota, which looks like another equal match up. I think Kiwan has a good chance, if the judges let him. 
 
M 80 kg - Q loss for Nikolov against  Veocic. Nothing surprising here, as Nikolov loses in the first round every single tournament. Veocic should get the quota.
 
M 92 kg - We had no one here, which was strange, as Pantaleev is a former World medalist. Probably he is injured or something.
 
M 92+ kg - 1/8 Hernandez vs.  Lenzi . Hernandez is a sand bag, so no chance he wins this. 
 
Overall i expect at least 1 quota (most likely Ibanez) and 2 would be job well done. 
 
On the women's side:
 
W 50 kg - Q loss for Chukanova against  Rok - Watched the match and feel they gave a host nation win for Rok. Doesn't matter, as  Cakiroglu is odds on favourite for the quota from this category either way. I hope they give a chance to Sevda Asenova in the WQT, who is in the -48 kg category, but is a much better fighter then Chukanova.
 
W 54 kg - 1/4 Petrova vs.  Lehane. Direct match. Petrova is by far our strongest woman and already beat an Ukrainian. Lehane seems like a new name to the Irish team, but they always turn out to be great fighters. Still giving the edge for Petrova and the quota.
 
W 57 kg - 1/8 Kamenova vs.  Nechita. First match for Kamenova and i don't know in what form she is coming here. Nechita isn't someone with big successes and i'm fairly confident Kamenova wins this one. Then it is between  and  , which on paper is a pefect draw. All the big favorites  Testa,  Walsh and  Zidani are distributed in the other sections, so this is the best path to an Olympic quota you could get. But the same goes for the hosts as well. 
 
W 60 kg - 1/8 loss for Mehmedova against  Beram. Expected loss, Mehmedova has never shown potential of reaching the end phase of a tournament. Maybe if she gets a favorable draw at the WQT, she can squeak a quota, but not counting on it.
 
W 66 and 75 kg - no participations here. Looks like we can't find boxers to fill these heavier categories, which is unfortune, as we have only 4 to 6 boxers fighting for a quota.
 
Overall, frankly i would be disappointed, if both Petrova and Kamenova don't get quotas here. 

Monaco in the 1/2 and close to get a medal with their Chinese player.

What's the point of France and USA competing at the OQT, since they are already qualified? That's absurd to me, when other 2 teams could have participated...

Italy going strong for the title from the get go. 

Who said, that people would come, when we reach Division 1.. Imagine having 4 years to promote this big event, that your country is hosting, that you should be proud of and then the first 3 days have a lower combined attendance then a single Ekstraklassa match.
 
I refuse to believe, that Poland, one of the biggest European sporting nations in my opinion, doesn't care one bit about this event. Even if you don't know karate, BMX, taekwondo etc. this is most likely the golden age for Polish athletics and they can get even 5000 people, let alone 50 000. 

Finish line sprint who gets the winning point 

Marusa Mismas wins the steeplechase, but it was funny anytime our commentator mentioned her surname, which sounds the same as a traditional Bulgarian food dish. 

This is still one of the most bonkers things in the sporting world for me. I don't have a logical explanation. 
 
These should be the European Olympics. The continent with the biggest sporting depth by far, having it's own mini-Olympics. In times when you need to make something big to grab the headlines, the EG haven't been embraced neither from the NOCs, the sports governing bodies, nor the regular people.  
 
On the contrary even, these Governing bodies, who's sports are on life support from one OG to the next, have been actively sabotaging the EG. The only times they get attention is during the OG and instead of trying to grab another big opportunity to promote and elevate their sport, they discredit them and prefer to have their own backwater events somewhere somewhere. 
 
You can exclude team sports and tennis from the list, but there is no reason for the other ones to not have this as one of the most important events in the calendar, especially when it occurs every 4 years. 
 
Only in 2015, the lead up and the Games themselves felt like a big deal. Every year after that has been downhill, downhill, downhill... Heck, the nonsense Commonwealth Games get 5 times more attention and interest for competing against Samoa and Antigua & Barbuda.

Italy going strong for the title from the get go.