phelps

that's good news for Italy... I'd never think Lanzi could make it, but it looks she's lucky enough to sneak in thanks to reallocations... the more athletes we qualify, the better it is for our very "tormented" sport right now...

The 10km FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 has started last Saturday in Doha (QAT)... Marc Antoine Olivier (men) and Ana Marcela Cunha (women) are the winners of the race that opened the season... more details, here: https://www.fina.org/news/2064946/golden-olivier-fra-and-cunha-bra-on-the-return-of-marathon-swimming-action

on FINA's website, the adjusted Waterpolo Schedule is available (even if they haven't posted on the Tokyo 2020 official website yet)... https://www.fina.org/competitions/5/olympic-games-tokyo-2020/results?discipline=WP&disciplines=

well, men's Team Epee is so far the weapon with more decisions still to be taken... France and Italy are mathematically qualified through the World Ranking, as well as the USA are also already qualified to the Tokyo Games because of the Panamerican Continental spot... everything else, it's still open... right now (1 event still to go), Switzerland and Ukraine would be in through the World Ranking, South Korea thanks to the Asian continental spot and Hungary thanks to the European continental spot (Egypt only need to stay within the top 16 of the WR, currently they are 14th and they have to keep at least 2 between Estonia, Spain and Germany behind them to qualify, which however it won't be easy, as they are only a few points behind Egypt and they all have the chance to earn more points than the Africans in the last WC stage)... on the other hand, South Korea have an awful score of 8 points to be discarded, meanwhile Switzerland so far have 25 points as their worst result, Ukraine have 23, Hungary have 24 and Russia (who are the first out among the european teams, just 3 points behind HUN) only 21... all this, means that KOR are most likely to gain the 4th World spot after the last event and cause an earthquake among the remaining european teams, which are likely to lose a spot in favour of the second best Asian Team (Japan are 3 points ahead of China right now, but CHN have 8 points to be discarded and JPN have 25, which means that virtually CHN are 17 points ahead before the last competition)... so, considering the current standings and the whole "game" of discards, I think SUI are the heavy favourites to stay in the top 4 overall among the European teams and therefore to qualify to Tokyo 2021 as they still have quite a good margin in the standings over their direct rivals... KOR are also likely to sneak in into the top 4 overall, so giving a second Asian team (China rather than Japan, unless they make up at least 18 points on CHN in the last event) a place at the Olympics... imho, also Egypt are going to save their place somehow and therefore the fight for the European Continental spot is on between UKR, HUN and RUS, with UKR having to defend a 24 point lead over HUN and 27 over RUS... The full current Ranking is here, so you can make yourself all the calculation about the projected scores... https://tokyo2020.fie.org/ranks?weapon=E&gender=M

with such an even draw, the preliminary round in Tokyo is going to be useless...we already know that Egypt and the European teams will be in the quarterfinals... there's no chance to have an unbalanced draw with a stronger group with 5 teams competing for the 4 quarterfinals spots... not that it's a problem (with so many things to watch at the Olympics, team sports preliminaries are definitely at the very bottom of my list), but still...

Women's Team Sabre (Budapest, HUN) Gold: Poland Silver: Italy Bronze: South Korea Semifinals Poland b. South Korea 45-41 Italy b. France 45-43 Bronze Medal Match South Korea b. France 45-41 Gold Medal Match Poland b. Italy 45-44 Final Ranking https://engarde-service.com/index.php?Organisme=hunfencing&Event=2021_03_11-14_gkk_wc&Compe=sws-eq&Page=clasfinal.htm

Men's Team Sabre (Budapest, HUN) Gold: Russia Silver: Germany Bronze: Hungary Semifinals Russia b. Hungary 45-35 Germany b. South Korea 45-41 Bronze Medal Match Hungary b. South Korea 45-40 Gold Medal Match Russia b. Germany 45-43 Final Ranking https://engarde-service.com/index.php?Organisme=hunfencing&Event=2021_03_11-14_gkk_wc&Compe=sms-eq&Page=clasfinal.htm

still, it should be ITA vs HUN in the Olympic semifinal (provided both teams win theur respective quarterfinal match...and both IRI and USA are not to be underestimated)...

Men's Sabre Qualification Lists updated as of March, 14th 2021 (Team List completed)...

and now also the men's Team Sabre field is completed... South Korea Hungary Italy Germany Russia Iran United States Egypt in the men's Individual Sabre, instead, we also have to wait for the Continental tournaments, but so far we already have 3 fencers from any of the 8 Nations qualified to the Team competition, possibly some Japanese wild cards and the qualified athletes via World ranking: Bolade Apithy Sandro Bazadze Fares Ferjani Shaul Gordon Xu Yingming Kento Yoshida

K1PL Stage #1, Istanbul (TUR) Medallists Recap Women's Individual Kata Gold: Sandra Sanchez Jaime Silver: Dilara Bozan Bronze #1: Carola Casale Bronze #2: Terryana D'Onofrio Men's Individual Kata Gold: Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila Silver: Alì Sofuoglu Bronze #1: Ariel Torres Gutierrez Bronze #2: Enes Ozdemir Women's Team Kata Gold: Spain Silver: Slovakia Bronze #1: Egypt Bronze #2: Turkey "B" Men's Team Kata Gold: Turkey Silver: Egypt Bronze #1: Spain Bronze #2: Azerbaijan Women's Individual Kumite, -50kg Gold: Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu Silver: Shara Hubrich Bronze #1: Sara Bahmanyar Bronze #2: Reem Ahmed Salama Women's Individual Kumite, -55kg Gold: Valeria Kumizaki Silver: Valentina Toro Meneses Bronze #1: Dorota Banaszczyk Bronze #2: Anzhelika Terliuga Women's Individual Kumite, -61kg Gold: Jovana Prekovic Silver: Rozita Alipour Bronze #1: Merve Coban Bronze #2: Ingrida Suchankova Women's Individual Kumite, -68kg Gold: Silvia Semeraro Silver: Feryal Abdelaziz Bronze #1: Alisa Buchinger Bronze #2: Irina Zaretska Women's Individual Kumite, +68kg Gold: Sofya Berultseva Silver: Meltem Hocaoglu Akyol Bronze #1: Johanna Kneer Bronze #2: Clio Ferracuti Men's Individual Kumite, -60kg Gold: Eray Samdan Silver: Firdovsi Farzaliyev Bronze #1: Sadriddin Saymatov Bronze #2: Emil Pavlov Men's Individual Kumite, -67kg Gold: Alì Elsawy Silver: Burak Uygur Bronze #1: Ernest Sharafutdinov Bronze #2: Yves Martial Tadissi Men's Individual Kumite, -75kg Gold: Luigi Busà Silver: Dastonbek Otabolaev Bronze #1: Noah Bitsch Bronze #2: Alì Asiabari Men's Individual Kumite, -84kg Gold: Zabiollah Poorshab Silver: Daniyar Yuldashev Bronze #1: Michele Martina Bronze #2: Ahmed Ramadan Mohamed Men's Individual Kumite, +84kg Gold: Sajad Ganjzadeh Silver: Ryzvan Talibov Bronze #1: Gogita Arkania Bronze #2: Asiman Gurbanli

Women's Sabre Qualification Lists updated as of March, 14th 2021 (Team List completed)...

the most beautiful thing about team events in Fencing is that the results are not a pure addition of individual values... this kind of team relay is totally different from the old method... you need just another mindset than in the individual events and in the old team format...you just can't afford any blackout without damaging your team...

so, the women's Team Sabre field is completed... Russia Italy France South Korea Hungary United States China Tunisia in the women's Individual Sabre, instead, we have to wait for the Continental tournaments, but so far we already have 3 fencers from any of the 8 Nations qualified to the Team competition, possibly some Japanese wild cards and the qualified athletes via World ranking: Olga Kharlan Theodora Gkountoura Misaki Emura Gabriella Page Nada Hafez Bhavani Devi Chadalavada

Ok, this time it's gone the right way... our girls are in the top 4...good 45-39 win over HUN... frankly, I don't understand why they just can't perform individually, but they often manage to succeed in the team event... however, let's take everything we get...

let's see if our girls can throw a 40-33 lead against Pusztai...

85cm progress all in once! before someone asks, he was born and raised in Italy (his parents are from Nigeria, but they've been living in Italy for many years now)... he already represented Italy in the junior ranks (he was 6th at the 2017 junior Europeans) and now he's studying at the Oregon University...

very unexpected Bronze for the Italian duo Elena Berta/Bianca Caruso in the women's event... they've been quite consistent through the entire week, but they almost threw it away in the medal race... however, a double penalty for the British crew at the last mark and right on the finish line saved them from being overtaken in the final ranking by the same British duo... that penalty also saved Spain's Gold medal in a dramatic sprint finish, because if the British women would have put themselves in between NED and ESP (which was going to happen without that last penalty), the Dutch women would have won the Gold medal by a single point... unfortunately for them, the penalties against the Britons allowed the Spanish boat to end up right behind the Dutch crew in the medal race, which was enough to keep the Spaniards ahead by 1 point in the final overall ranking...

Men's Individual Sabre (Budapest, HUN) Gold: Oh Sanguk Silver: Aron Szilagyi Bronze: Sandro Bazadze & Matyas Szabo Semifinals Oh b. Szabo 15-10 Szilagyi b. Bazadze 15-6 Final Oh b. Szilagyi 15-14 Final Ranking https://fie.org/competitions/2021/160

Women's Individual Sabre (Budapest, HUN) Gold: Anna Marton Silver: Cecilia Berder Bronze: Liza Pusztai & Yoon Ji Su Semifinals Marton b. Pusztai 15-9 Berder b. Yoon 15-9 Final Marton b. Berder 15-9 Final Ranking https://fie.org/competitions/2021/151

Day #2 Men's Individual Kata Gold Medal Match: Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila vs Alì Sofuoglu Bronze Medal Match #1: Ariel Torres Gutierrez vs Mason Stowell Bronze Medal Match #2: Roman Heydarov vs Enes Ozdemir Women's Team Kata Gold Medal Match: Spain vs Slovakia Bronze Medal Match #1: Egypt vs Turkey "A" Bronze Medal Match #2: Turkey "B" vs Turkey "C" Women's Individual Kumite, -61kg Gold Medal Match: Rozita Alipour vs Jovana Prekovic Bronze Medal Match #1: Merve Coban vs Anita Serogina Bronze Medal Match #2: Shima Alesaadi vs Ingrida Suchankova Women's Individual Kumite, -68kg Gold Medal Match: Silvia Semeraro vs Feryal Abdelaziz Bronze Medal Match #1: Marina Rakovic vs Alisa Buchinger Bronze Medal Match #2: Irina Zaretska vs Nesrine Bougrine Women's Individual Kumite, +68kg Gold Medal Match: Meltem Hocaoglu Akyol vs Sofya Berultseva Bronze Medal Match #1: Johanna Kneer vs Guadalupe Quintal Catzin Bronze Medal Match #2: Clio Ferracuti vs Vanesca Nortan Men's Individual Kumite, -75kg Gold Medal Match: Luigi Busà vs Dastonbek Otabolaev Bronze Medal Match #1: Elhami Shabani vs Noah Bitsch Bronze Medal Match #2: Erman Eltemur vs Alì Asiabari Men's Individual Kumite, -84kg Gold Medal Match: Zabiollah Poorshab vs Daniyar Yuldashev Bronze Medal Match #1: Ivan Kvesic vs Michele Martina Bronze Medal Match #2: Ugur Aktas vs Ahmed Ramadan Mohamed Men's Individual Kumite, +84kg Gold Medal Match: Sajad Ganjzadeh vs Ryzvan Talibov Bronze Medal Match #1: Gogita Arkania vs Tarek Mahmoud Taha Bronze Medal Match #2: Herolind Nishevci vs Asiman Gurbanli

I don't think this event can be really an indication of what's gonna happen in a few months... basically, this is the first fencing event in 1 full year...I'm pretty sure that not all the teams are in the same kind of shape, especially those who are already qualified (or eliminated) from the Games... for instance, in Italy Fencing has been stopped completely and actually it's still standing by...so, I expect all the Italians to have poor results in these weeks (and especially this weekend), but this doesn't mean that we won't be competitive as usual in Tokyo... p.s. and in fact, so far women's sabre specialists have had a nightmarish saturday, all of them going out in the 1st or 2nd round of the individual event... and I don't expect the men to be a lot better, too...

Women's Individual Kumite, -55kg Gold Medal Match: Valeria Kumizaki vs Valentina Toro Meneses Bronze Medal Match #1: Dorota Banaszczyk vs Tuba Yakan Bronze Medal Match #2: Anzhelika Terliuga vs Ivet Goranova

After a full year with no competition, the top class Karate is back! This week's Istanbul Premier League event, though, is just a confidence builder and it won't award any point in the Olympic Qualification Ranking, as opposed to the next round in Lisbon, which should be the final qualification event among the Premier League ones... However, it's nice to see some of the strongest specialists back on the mat... Here's a partial recap of Day #1 (women's -55kg and men's -75kg weight classes still have to complete their preliminaries)... Women's Individual Kata Gold Medal Match: Sandra Sanchez Jaime vs Dilara Bozan Bronze Medal Match #1: Carola Casale vs Lidia Rodriguez Encabo Bronze Medal Match #2: Fatemeh Sadeghi vs Terryana D'Onofrio Men's Team Kata Gold Medal Match: Turkey vs Egypt Bronze Medal Match #1: Spain vs Turkey "C" Bronze Medal Match #2: Azerbaijan vs Turkey "B" Women's Individual Kumite, -50kg Gold Medal Match: Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu vs Shara Hubrich Bronze Medal Match #1: Sara Bahmanyar vs Kateryna Kryva Bronze Medal Match #2: Reem Ahmed Salama vs Gema Morales Ozuna Men's Individual Kumite, -60kg Gold Medal Match: Eray Samdan vs Firdovsi Farzaliyev Bronze Medal Match #1: Evgeny Plakhutin vs Sadriddin Saymatov Bronze Medal Match #2: Kaisar Alpysbair vs Emil Pavlov Men's Individual Kumite, -67kg Gold Medal Match: Alì Elsawy vs Burak Uygur Bronze Medal Match #1: Assylbek Muratov vs Ernest Sharafutdinov Bronze Medal Match #2: David Nhuyen vs Yves Martial Tadissi

Karate WKF Premier League 2021 Multi-Stage Event - 12 March 2021 - 3 October 2021 Official Website Programme Results System Results Database Facebook Page Discussion Thread