phelps

3 medals (2 silver, 1 bronze) for Italy in the first day of the event, but no gold...the curse of the last few years continues... and most likely, we just created another monster in the head of our foil girls...this time it's Germany (now coached by the "maestro" Bortolaso, the man who was behind all the Russian success during the Cerioni era and who actually raised the average level of the Russians)... p.s. if the Beach Volleyball worlds in Rome are sad because of the lack of audience, you gotta see this event...

actually they show the sets won in the graphics... It's not intuitive at all, as it is only a stripe beside the name of the team, but still... p.s. worst graphics ever...not even to be said (perfectly in line with the empty stadium's landscape)...

it's Italy (no promotion of the event at all, since it's covered by our public tv, the worst in the world when it comes to promoting their sport events) + it's Rome (where people only follow non-football events when it gets glamourous, which is not the BBV case) + it's the early stages + it's beach volleyball (not one of the top tier sports in Italy when it comes to the TV/stadium audience) + day games are played under really difficult weather conditions (35+ degrees) + these days, the evening is always full of football matches on tv... I hope from tonight's session and in the weekend's final phase a lot more people would eventually show up... but unless the Italian males go through to the semis at least, I doubt we're going to see a sellout crowd... p.s. Rome is the worst place in Italy to have this kind of sports' global events...it's a good place only for Football, Athletics and Swimming (and only if the Italian athletes are expected to do well)...

I just clicked the wrong option in the voting section...

Archery, men's team event...the Italian gold medal in 2012 was amazing and the emotions they gave me are incomparable to any other team competition in the history of the sport, but I just can't pick South Korea and their unbelievable streak of success, showing so much spread talent... Archery, women's team event...this is a no brainer, China is the only possible pick... Athletics, women's 4*100m Relay...here I'm not going to choose the USA despite their crazy streak, because I think that the 2020 Jamaican team is simply the best ever... Rowing, men's Eights...very difficult choice...among the Olympic finals I've watched, I still think that the 2000 British team is the best ever, so, they're my pick... Rowing, women's Eights...here I'm really full of doubts...was the Romanian team that dominated the field between the late Nineties and the early 2000's better than the US crews that equalled the streak of success a few years later? I'd like to give a tie in this poll, but since it's not possible, I'm gonna pick Romania...

comin'up shortly, the African Championships and the European Championships...

also already underway, the 2022 Asian Championships so far, the Individual events have been completed here's the list of this year's Asian Individual Champions: women's Individual Epee: Vivian Kong Man Wai men's Individual Epee: Koki Kano women's Individual Foil: Shi Yue men's Individual Foil: Cheung Ka Long women's Individual Sabre: Choi Soo Yeon men's Individual Sabre: Gu Bon Gil of course, also the full results and rankings of the Asian champs are available on the FIE website (same advice of the Pan-Am Champs once the event is over): https://fie.org/competitions p.s. the Team Events' Champions will be published once the tournament is concluded.

time for the Continental Championships 2022... first to be completed, the Panamerican Championships USA dominated the field, but not as usual at least in Foil and Epee competitions, with Venezuela, Canada and Argentina all being capable of stealing one or more gold medals from the US powerhouse. Right now, only Saber is still a US only affair. here's the list of this year's Panamerican Champions: women's Individual Epee: Isabel Di Tella men's Individual Epee: Ruben Gascòn Limardo women's Individual Foil: Eleanor Harvey men's Individual Foil: Alexander Massialas women's Individual Sabre: Anne-Elizabeth Stone men's Individual Sabre: Daryl Homer women's Team Epee: United States men's Team Epee: Venezuela women's Team Foil: Canada men's Team Foil: United States women's Team Sabre: United States men's Team Sabre: United States Full Results and Rankings are available on the FIE website (just choose the "Previous Competitions" link on top of the page): https://fie.org/competitions

earlier today... Slalom Canoeing, World Cup from Prague (thanks to the Czech TV) Triathlon, World Championship Series from Leeds (thanks, BBC) NBA Basketball, the Finals, Game #4 (on Sky Italia) right now... MLB Baseball, Tampa Bay Rays @ Minnesota Twins on Sky Italia, with an eye also on the Beach Volleyball World Championships (on the Italian Public TV, RAI) if Baseball ends quickly, Sport Climbing, Boulder world cup on Discovery Plus (if Baseball goes long, Sport Climbing is postponed to Tomorrow)

not yet, you just have to search for the teams' press releases and figure out the teams by yourself right now... or just wait until a couple of days before the start of the tournament, when usually all the start lists suddenly come out to the general audience...

this idiot is the biggest disgrace the world of sport has ever faced since Avery Brundage and Lord Killanin's times... I really hope the next IOC President would start his campaign following the motto "tradition & restoration" and cancelling all the sh*t brought in by the fencing olympic champion, AKA the German idiot...

tbh, it would be a lot more important to retranscode the videos at 50 fps rather than just cutting the "dead gaps"... many sports are just unwatchable at 25 fps... someone with the right contacts should let them know...

once again, not a fully representative world cup stage, with a lot of absents among the top shooters, especially in the Rifle & Pistol events... the new Olympic qualification rules have hit hard the world cup, which doesn't have the same level of the past anymore in almost every competition... well done, ISSF! next stop, South Korea (Changwon) at the beginning of July (once again a full package event, with Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun specialists all together)...

last events in Baku... men's Team 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Gold: South Korea Silver: Ukraine Bronze: Italy Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16567 mixed Team Skeet Gold: United States 1 (Austen Jewell Smith & Vincent Hancock) Silver: Germany 2 (Christine Wenzel & Tilo Schreier) Bronze: Italy 1 (Chiara Cainero & Gabriele Rossetti) and Czech Republic 2 (Barbora Sumova & Jakub Tomecek) Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16570

this week it's time for the European Champs, which will award a lot of quota places to the European Games (when some Olympic Quota Places will be awarded)... and the Italian women's team has a new member: the 3 times Paralympic medallist Elisabetta Mijino... yes, you read it well, our team will feature the Olympic Bronze medallist from Tokyo 2020, Lucilla Boari, long time member Tatiana Andreoli and a 36-year old newcomer who normally shoots her arrows in the Paralympic competitions... not sure if this is a good sign for our archery?

finally! our lucky venue brought us a new gold in the top tier world tour, the first one after 2016 (in Sochi, thanks to Nicolai & Lupo in their magic season when they also won the Olympic Silver medal in Rio)...

yeah, just look at Federica Pellegrini, just staying in the swimming pool... she's been a great swimmer for 17 years and at the same time she's become a star in the Italian media also outside the pool (mainstream TV networks included, not only the social media, which is a world apart for me -I know, I'm getting really old )...

women's Team Skeet Gold: Germany Silver: United States Bronze: Kazakhstan Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16561 men's Team Skeet Gold: United States Silver: Greece Bronze: Kuwait Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16563

I'm pretty sure he was talking of the Algerian Slimane Moula... our friend is not really interested in other Nations' people...

mixed Team 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Gold: South Korea 1 (Kim La Na & Song Jong-Ho) Silver: Ukraine 2 (Yulia Korostylova & Pavlo Korostylov) Bronze: Ukraine 1 (Anastasiia Nimets & Maksym Horodynets) Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16556

they usually host the rifle & pistol events (which don't have the same issues)... I don't remember shotgun shooting events except for a world cup final (which I didn't follow at the time and the European Games in 2015, when there was a different tv production)... however, it's not Azerbaijan...the shooting range is OK, it's this specific tv director (hired by ISSF, I think) that's a complete disaster, he doesn't have any idea of how a shotgun competition should be filmed...

there have been a lot of technical and broadcasting issues in this world cup stage... tbh, ISSF should stop awarding global events to Countries that can't keep at least a decent standard in both the technical and broadcasting organization... it's the same shame we often have to face with Fencing... and nowadays it's absolutely unacceptable to penalize atheltes and fans with such poor organizing efforts...

women's Individual Skeet Gold: Lucie Anastassiou Silver: Caitlin Connor Bronze: Austen Jewell Smith Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16552

men's Individual Skeet Gold: Vincent Hancock Silver: Nicolas Lejeune Bronze: Jesper Hansen Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16551

men's Individual 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Gold: Jean Quiquampoix Silver: Christian Reitz Bronze: Clement Bessaguet Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16545