phelps

Men's Individual Epee ( Istanbul) Gold: Alexandre Bardenet Silver: Mate Tamas Koch Bronze: Tristan Tulen & Davide Di Veroli Semifinals Bardenet b. Tulen 15-9 Koch b. Di Veroli 15-8 Final Bardenet b. Koch 13-12 Full Ranking & Results https://www.fencingtimelive.com/events/results/42B90D5495B1435E93FD6A42F3B96E1F

he hasn't recovered well from the mononucleosis he had at the end of last year. he missed a lot of months of training and this Spring he also changed his coach, which I think it's the worst idea he could have. as he's no longer in the main Italian club's group, with that change he also lost some valuable training mates he could face everyday to improve his standards. I think we're going to waste a talent (and also his alter ego Bertoni -also class of 2006- had a really bad outing at the Italian Nationals last month, therefore he's been confirmed only in the youth National Team program instead of getting a chance to raise his game together with the main team). not looking a good period for our younger freestyle specialists. most likely, Galossi is going to swim at Sette Colli, but I'd be very surprised if he can pull out some good clockings.

OMG! @hckošice how are you? are you still alive? what's up with this team?

the 2022/2023 Euroleague Final will be between Olympiakos and Real Madrid. Olympiakos, after a slow start, just destroyed Monaco in the first semifinal thanks to an unbelievable 27-2 run in the 3rd quarter. the final score is 76-62 in favor of the Greek team. Boxscore: https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2022-23/olympiacos-piraeus-as-monaco/E2022/327/#boxscore Highlights: https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/videos/highlights-oly-mco-tae2223-f4-semis-a/?pageTitle=Olympiacos Piraeus vs AS Monaco&game=327&homeTeamCode=OLY&awayTeamCode=MCO&title=Olympiacos Piraeus vs AS Monaco&historyUrl=/euroleague/game-center/2022-23/olympiacos-piraeus-as-monaco/E2022/327/ Real Madrid earned their place in the final four thanks to a scandalous help by the disciplinary committee of the Euroleague in the quarterfinal series vs Partizan Belgrade. but tonight, they played really well and defeated their arch-rivals from Barcelona by a score of 78-66. Boxscore: https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/game-center/2022-23/fc-barcelona-real-madrid/E2022/328/ the big showdown between Olympiakos and Real Madrid is scheduled for Sunday, May 21st @ 7 p.m. CET

Nick Ponzio (men's Athletics, Shot Put) announced his retirement to avoid a long ban after missing 3 tests (2 in 2022 and 1 in 2023). he always said it was a problem with the ADAMS and his iPhone, but he wasn't given any credit by WADA and by the Italian anti-doping authorities. therefore he had to take this sudden and painful decision. despite that, Today the fuckin' NADO decided to give him a 1-year ban (until April 2024).

well, actually steroids are the best way to build up muscles and strenght (that's why they're normally associated with the increase of body weight, but it's only a side effect) and help to maintain aggressivness, all things very useful in all kind of physical activity. and that's why they've been used for so many years as primary doping treatment, also in sports where weight classes can make things more complicated to be managed (people have to balance the increase of weight trying to lose more body fat as possible, even with extreme measures -here comes into play diuretics* and anti-diabetis medicines, normally used in association with steroids to compensate the side effect of becoming heavier). that's why they're still used as of today, despite they're so easy to be detected even with a simple anti-doping check (just need a basic urine sample and it's not among those expensive checks you can make once every while, they can be performed multiple times by any lab around the world). *they also have a cover up effect, helping human body to eliminate the banned substances quicker from your body (at least those substances that can be detected by a basic urine test, other things involving blood and hormons are just another story). tbh, 2 results like that in the same team at the same time don't look promising at all. it opens up to more than one suspect of team doping, which could be very painful for the whole NOC. I wish your athletes the best, but I fear it's gonna be a very complicated situation.

there's room for interpretation of the whole move, not in case of grabbing a leg/the trousers of an opponent. like you wrote, "grabbing" the leg or the trousers is an automatic shido. which is NOT what happened to Pinot, who only used her arm (actually, her elbow) to give herself a better balance while throwing Niizoe without grabbing any part of her leg/trousers. Ylenia Scapin said during the broadcast on the Italian TV that, outside the automatic case (a true grab), the refs have been given instruction to ignore those instinctive moves during an action unless they feel they give an unfair advantage to the athlete that does that. the ref committee obviously didn't follow those instructions in yesterday's situation. they will always justify themselves saying that Pinot took advantage from moving her arm that way, I completely disagree and nobody will take off my mind that it wasn't a bona fide decision. but it's only my point of view. p.s. I'm sorry if you felt annoyed by my comments through the week. I'll make sure it won't happen anymore. from now, I'll keep my thoughts for myself.

they already changed the interpretation of the rule. to give an automatic shido, now there must be a true grab of the leg, which was not yesterday's case (Pinot is only helping herself in the move with his arm...and it's just that kind of natural move that follows the momentum of the throw that IJF wanted not to be punished anymore). however, yeah, I think we could go ahead for quite a long time debating on that without agreeing.

actually, I have the correct information (I only excluded the first 2 matchups before Keldiyorova's breakthrough). as I worte, Keldiyorova used to be untouchable for Giuffrida until the end of last season, when the Italian found the right coutermeasures to face the Uzbek and finally won against her at the Masters. but still, she didn't lose to Keldiyorova last week, she lost against Pupp, so this is quite different (she always won against the Hungarian before and we're not talking of a young rising star). sometimes it's not the final result that makes things disappointing, it's how things develop, it's how you come to the final result. this is the case. for what concerns Bellandi, she was the first one to be desperate for the missed chance (as she knows better than any other people in the world that's not sure she will still be the strongest on the field the next time...chances have to be caught when they happen...nobody knows the future). p.s. don't worry for me to be disappointed...I'm used to it...just yesterday it happened multiple times. but I can live with that, it's just "watching some sports on tv", nothing that really matters in actual life.

no, the rule has been changed recently once again because of many unfair calls in the past couple of years... unless the leg is intentionally grabbed, there's no reason for the refs to automatically call the shido, if they see that there's no real rule infringment, they can let the action stand as developed. and that was yesterday's case: there's absolutely no grab by Pinot, but only an incidental contact. even Ylania Scapin (multiple Olympic medallist) said on the Italian TV that she undertands why they did make that call, but she was absolutely against it because it was totally against the spirit of the new rule enforcement. and I agree with her. there are always points where refs/judges can find a way to justify their doing, but it doesn't mean they're right "in the interest of the game".

For those who might want to watch the final day of the IQ Foil Europeans:

2023 IQ Foil European Championships ( Patras) Women Gold: Mina Mobekk Silver: Sharon Kantor Bronze: Emma Wilson Full Result https://iqeuropeans2023greece.sailti.com/en/default/races/race-resultsall Men Gold: Nicolò Renna Silver: Sebastian Koerdel Bronze: Kiran Badloe Full Result https://iqeuropeans2023greece.sailti.com/en/default/races/race-resultsall

Karate 1 Premier League ( Rabat) Medallists Women's Individual Kata Gold: Kiyou Shimizu Silver: Grace Lau Mo Sheung Bronze: Emiri Iwamoto & Hikaru Ono Men's Individual Kata Gold: Kakeru Nishiyama Silver: Alì Sofuoglu Bronze: Kazumasa Moto & Aoi Funada Women's Individual Kumite, -50kg Gold: Yorgelis Salazar Silver: Moldir Zhangbyrbay Bronze: Ting Tsang Yee & Chaimae Elhayti Women's Individual Kumite, -55kg Gold: Anzhelika Terliuga Silver: Trinity Allen Bronze: Valentina Toro Meneses & Tsui-Ping Ku Women's Individual Kumite, -61kg Gold: Wafa Mahjoub Silver: Assel Kanay Bronze: Yuki Kujuro & Fatima-Zahra Chajai Women's Individual Kumite, -68kg Gold: Iryna Zaretska Silver: Elena Quirici Bronze: Elina Sieliemienieva & Nisrine Brouk Women's Individual Kumite, +68kg Gold: Ayumi Uekusa Silver: Sofya Berultseva Bronze: Nikolina Golombos & Ingrid Creemers Men's Individual Kumite, -60kg Gold: Angelo Crescenzo Silver: Abdullah Shaaban Bronze: Abdel Alì Jina & Christos-Stefanos Xenos Men's Individual Kumite, -67kg Gold: Abdel Rahman Almasatfa Silver: Gianluca De Vivo Bronze: Soichiro Nakano & Didar Amirali Men's Individual Kumite, -75kg Gold: Quentin Mahauden Silver: Sultan Alzahrani Bronze: Enes Bulut & Mitchell Durham Men's Individual Kumite, -84kg Gold: Mohammad Aljafari Silver: Matteo Fiore Bronze: Michele Martina & Mohamed Ramadan Men's Individual Kumite, +84kg Gold: Matteo Avanzini Silver: Sanad Sufyani Bronze: Fatih Sen & Abylay Toltay

Final Medal Table 6 / 2 / 4 2 / 4 / 2 2 / 1 / 2 1 / 1 / 0 (Russia) 1 / 0 / 2 1 / 0 / 1 1 / 0 / 0 1 / 0 / 0 0 / 2 / 2 0 / 1 / 3 0 / 1 / 0 0 / 1 / 0 0 / 1 / 0 0 / 1 / 0 0 / 0 / 3 0 / 0 / 2 0 / 0 / 2 0 / 0 / 2 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1

Day #8 Mixed Team Event Gold: Japan Silver: France Bronze: Georgia & Netherlands

call it conspiracy, call it biased refereeing, call it a simple bad mistake (but after the video review by 2 different judges is it only a bona fide mistake?), call it like you prefer... that's what happened: 2 awful ref calls (both by the same ref., mr. Camacho...is it a case?) overturned what should have been the true result of the last 2 events of the championship. it's not the first time it happens and it won't be the last. peace. tomorrow is another day.

I don't think expecting Gold for Lombardo and Bellandi, Silver for Giuffrida and Bronze for Scutto and Parlati with that draw was unrealistic at all. my opinion are based on results of the last years, especially on the head-to-head scores between our guys and their respective opponents in the Grand Prix/Grand Slam/World Champs tournaments. p.s. in 2019 Lombardo, Parlati and Bellandi were just coming out of the Juniors (where they won the world title the year before). Scutto is even younger (and we are waiting for Carnà, who's only 17 and already a Junior World Champion, but she's just moved up from 52 to 57kg and she's not ready yet for the big events in the new class). the past is gone. as I wrote, now we have a new generation of talent we never had before. I'm not underestimating Keldiyorova, but I think Giuffrida is better than her (and she won the last couple of times they faced each other, after losing the first few direct matchups...sign that she's taken the right countermeasures). Pupp is basically doing nothing on the mat every time she competes and gets sistematically overpaid by the refs. she only destroys other people's judo, she doesn't have any real big throw. and head-to-head results are there to show...Giuffrida always won easily against her at any level before last Monday (Olympic Bronze medal contest included). I don't agree, but I give you the point on Lombardo. but Bellandi...oh, man! since she switched to 78kg, she's basically unbeatable...she only lost to Boehm and/or Wagner in the main events. after last year's worlds, 3 consecutive wins in GS/Master tournaments before losing only once in the whole season in the final in Tbilisi against her bete noir Wagner. she's 2-0 vs Hamada, 2-0 vs Tcheumeo, she owns Malonga (3-0 in the H2H with all the victories getting bigger and bigger), she never lost to the Dutch girls. I don't know what someone has to do to be named the best in the class on that day (given Wagner's absence). if she wasn't entering the worlds as the main favourite, I can only think of a bias (and it's not mine).

paying the prize for Yesterday's Gold gifted to Riner... it's a shame that the last 2 finals have been completely overturned by scandal decisions of the ref committee, after a week of great Judo with (almost) no controversy

luckily for you, no.

in the whole tournament, I only watched Today's last 2 Gold Medal bouts (Cruiser- and Heavyweights). well, both were true Christmas presents to the Russians, to say the least and being politically correct. I just can't imagine what they did in the entire tournament...

Medallists (Part I) Bantamweights, -54kg Gold: Makhmud Sabyrkhan Silver: Oybek Juraev Bronze: Yosvany Veitia Soto & Dmitrii Dvali Featherweights, -57kg Gold: Abdumalik Khalokov Silver: Saidel Ivan Horta Rodriguez Del Rey Bronze: Uddin Mohammed Hussam & Munarbek Seiitbek-Uulu Light Welterweights, -63.5kg Gold: Ruslan Abdullaev Silver: Chinzorig Baatarsukh Bronze: Hovhannes Backhov & Bakhodur Osmonov Light Middleweights, -71kg Gold: Aslanbek Shymbergenov Silver: Saidjamshid Jafarov Bronze: Nishant Dev & Wanderson De Oliveira Light Heavyweights, -80kg Gold: Nurbek Oralbay Silver: Tanglatihan Tuohetaerbieke Bronze: Gazimagomed Jalidov Gafurova & Imam Khataev Cruiserweights, -86kg Gold: the IBA Russian Mafia (represented on the ring by Sharabutdin Ataev) Silver: Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez Bronze: Georgii Kushitashvili & Rogelio Romero Heavyweights, -92kg Gold: the IBA Russian Mafia (represented on the ring by Muslim Gadzhimagomedov) Silver: Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine Bronze: Lazizbek Mullojonov & Narek Manasyan

Day #8, Medal Matches Mixed Team Event Gold Medal match: Japan vs France Bronze Medal match #1: Georgia vs Germany Bronze Medal match #2: Morocco vs Netherlands

Men's Team Sabre ( Madrid) Gold: Hungary Silver: United States Bronze: Iran Semifinals Hungary b. Italy 45-40 USA b. Iran 45-24 Bronze Medal Match Iran b. Italy 45-37 Gold Medal Match Hungary b. USA 45-42 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2023/853

Women's Team Sabre ( Batumi) Gold: Ukraine Silver: United States Bronze: Spain Semifinals Ukraine b. Italy 45-36 USA b. Spain 45-44 Bronze Medal Match Spain b. Italy 45-42 Gold Medal Match Ukraine b. USA 45-42 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2023/760