phelps

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

Men's Individual 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Gold: Li Yuehong Silver: Clement Bessaguet Bronze: Florian Peter Final Ranking and Results https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=17993

what's happening to world sabre? I've never seen such surprising results, men or women, it desn't matter. in Batumi (women) GMM: vs BMM: vs 5th 6th 7th 8th in Madrid (men) GMM: vs BMM: vs 5th/6th Place match: vs 7th/8th Place match: vs

Italy are no longer the small team they once were. it's been quite some time that we're winning cadet and junior world gold medals, now we have a new generation of players that are definitely among the best in the world. now it's time to take the fruit of all this work. and when it doesn't happen, it's frustrating. and must be said, you can't always be happy when you don't hit your target, as ambitious as it might be. Bellandi is the no.1 in the world (maybe only Wagner could argue about it) and has always beaten all of her rivals in the past 2 years (except the German). not winning Gold is definitely underperforming. the same is for Lombardo...he's a generational talent, the only man capable to beat Hifumi Abe (twice) at 66kg before he couldn't make the weight anymore (and he paid the prize for that in Tokyo) and had to switch at 73kg, where he's quite clearly the strongest man in the class after Shoei Ono's retirement. as I wrote, he was just unlucky, bur still, he didn't come home with a more than expected (and deserved gold). Giuffrida lost to Pupp, who's not at her level. she had a clean highway to the gold medal match (with Krasniqi, Buchard and Abe all in the other side of the table draw) and she missed it. then she won the bronze medal vs Krasniqi only bewcause the girl from Kosovo was not on top of her game after losing the semifinal match. to me, all those results are good, but still below the expectation.

don't worry...sooner or later, your hair will start getting grey in any case...

guess what? it looks like the super-corrupted 2016 is still here...same Countries getting all the major honors, some fighters getting pushed to the medals despite everything and anybody (the Russian and the Uzbek in the -92kg class... ).

Medallists (Part I) Minimumweights, -48kg Gold: Sanzhar Tashkenbay Silver: Sakhil Alakhverdovi Bronze: Alejandro Claro Fiz & Edmond Khudoian Flyweights, -51kg Gold: Hasanboy Dusmatov Silver: Billal Bennama Bronze: Deepak & Martin Molina Salvador Lightweights, -60kg Gold: Sofiane Oumiha Silver: Erislandy Alvarez Borges Bronze: Mohammad Abu-Jajeh & Vsevolod Shumkov Welterweights, -67kg Gold: Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev Silver: Daulat Bekbauov Bronze: Lasha Guruli & Misheelt Battumur Middleweights, -75kg Gold: Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez Martinez Silver: Wanderley Pereira Bronze: Moreno Fendero & Alokhon Abdullaev Super Heavyweights, +92kg Gold: Bakhodir Jalolov Silver: Fernando Alejandro Arzola Lopez Bronze: Mahammad Abdullayev & Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui

Karate 1 Premier League ( Rabat) Medal Matches Women's Individual Kata Gold Medal Match: Kiyou Shimizu vs Grace Lau Mo Sheung Bronze Medal Match #1: Emiri Iwamoto vs Jasmin Juettner Bronze Medal Match #2: Maho Ono vs Hikaru Ono Men's Individual Kata Gold Medal Match: Alì Sofuoglu vs Kakeru Nishiyama Bronze Medal Match #1: Sakichi Abe vs Aoi Funada Bronze Medal Match #2: Kazumasa Moto vs Mattia Busato Women's Individual Kumite, -50kg Gold Medal Match: Moldir Zhangbyrbay vs Yorgelis Salazar Bronze Medal Match #1: Gema Morales Ozuna vs Ting Tsang Yee Bronze Medal Match #2: Nadia Morales Gomez vs Chaimae Elhayti Women's Individual Kumite, -55kg Gold Medal Match: Anzhelika Terliuga vs Trinity Allen Bronze Medal Match #1: Syria Mancinelli vs Valentina Toro Meneses Bronze Medal Match #2: Shima Airi vs Tsui-Ping Ku Women's Individual Kumite, -61kg Gold Medal Match: Assel Kanay vs Wafa Mahjoub Bronze Medal Match #1: Yuki Kujuro vs Nina Radjenovic Bronze Medal Match #2: Aurora Graziosi vs Fatima-Zahra Chajai Women's Individual Kumite, -68kg Gold Medal Match: Elena Quirici vs Iryna Zaretska Bronze Medal Match #1: Nisrine Brouk vs Sara Krivdova Bronze Medal Match #2: Elina Sieliemienieva vs Sadea Becirovic Women's Individual Kumite, +68kg Gold Medal Match: Sofya Berultseva vs Ayumi Uekusa Bronze Medal Match #1: Niamh Junner vs Nikolina Golombos Bronze Medal Match #2: Habiba Helmy vs Ingrid Creemers Men's Individual Kumite, -60kg Gold Medal Match: Angelo Crescenzo vs Abdullah Shaaban Bronze Medal Match #1: Abdallah Hammad vs Abdel Alì Jina Bronze Medal Match #2: Carmine Luciano vs Christos-Stefanos Xenos Men's Individual Kumite, -67kg Gold Medal Match: Gianluca De Vivo vs Abdel Rahman Almasatfa Bronze Medal Match #1: Hiroki Nakano vs Didar Amirali Bronze Medal Match #2: Soichiro Nakano vs Yugo Kozaki Men's Individual Kumite, -75kg Gold Medal Match: Sultan Alzahrani vs Quentin Mahauden Bronze Medal Match #1: Wadie Sassioui vs Mitchell Durham Bronze Medal Match #2: Enes Bulut vs Enzo Berthon Men's Individual Kumite, -84kg Gold Medal Match: Matteo Fiore vs Mohammad Aljafari Bronze Medal Match #1: Mohamed Ramadan vs Faraj Alnashri Bronze Medal Match #2: Michele Martina vs Ivan Kvesic Men's Individual Kumite, +84kg Gold Medal Match: Matteo Avanzini vs Sanad Sufyani Bronze Medal Match #1: Fatih Sen vs Jakov Bunjevac Bronze Medal Match #2: Nurniyaz Yeldashov vs Abylay Toltay

@hckošice are you still with us?

Men's Individual Sabre ( Madrid) Gold: Sandro Bazadze Silver: Riccardo Nuccio Bronze: Maxime Pianfetti & Enrico Berrè Semifinals Bazadze b. Pianfetti 15-11 Nuccio b. Berrè 15-6 Final Bazadze b. Nuccio 15-6 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2023/474

Women's Individual Sabre ( Batumi) Gold: Sara Balzer Silver: Caroline Queroli Bronze: Anna Marton & Chiara Mormile Semifinals Balzer b. Marton 15-14 Queroli b. Mormile 15-2 Final Balzer b. Queroli 15-10 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2023/471

for what concerns Italy, the championship is over (we won't be part of the farcical mixed team event Tomorrow). the final summary is meh! 4 medals is a new record for us, but it could and should have gone better. of our 18 players, the only one who exceeded the expectations is the young Asya Tavano in the women's super-Heavyweights, who earlier Today won against all odds her bout vs the world no.1 Romane Dicko. unfortunately, she only ended up in 7th place, but still she earned a lot of valuable points in the OQR. Congrats to her. all the other guys, instead, either did the bare minimum (most of the team) or even underperformed (Parlati leading this category, not a surprise...but also Bellandi, Giuffrida -given her extremely favourable draw- and in a certain sense also Lombardo, even if he was more unlucky than anything). finally, still asking myself why "the not young anymore" Mungai is always named in the squad, despite he doesn't win a single match against even the average guys? why always waste a place in the team who could go to a youngster in the need of making some experience at the highest level? (and we have quite a lot of them).

and we couldn't end the championship without a major scandal... to Inal Tasoev, who played a wonderful final bout vs the great Teddy Riner and he actually beat him on the mat. only a biased ref committee didn't call a good, clean, enormous waza-ari in his favour in the Golden Score period, allowing Riner to find the last drop of energy and a winning throw a few seconds later. congrats to Riner for his record 11th world title, but this time it was the least undeserved of them all (despite not being the first controversial win by him).

Day #7 women's +78kg Gold: Akira Sone Silver: Julia Tolofua Bronze: Raz Hershko & Beatriz Souza men's +100kg Gold: Teddy Riner Silver: Inal Tasoev (RUS) Bronze: Rafael Silva & Alisher Yusupov

Day #7, Medal Matches women's +78kg Gold Medal match: Akira Sone vs Julia Tolofua Bronze Medal match #1: Beatriz Souza vs Kim Ha Yun Bronze Medal match #2: Raz Hershko vs Xu Shiyan men's +100kg Gold Medal match: Inal Tasoev (RUS) vs Teddy Riner Bronze Medal match #1: Kokoro Kageura vs Alisher Yusupov Bronze Medal match #2: Rafael Silva vs Temur Rakhimov