phelps

Women's Individual Sabre ( Algiers) Gold: Lucia Martin-Portugues Silver: Michela Battiston Bronze: Sara Balzer & Theodora Gkountoura Semifinals Martin-Portugues b. Gkoutoura 15-8 Battiston b. Balzer 15-13 Final Martin-Portugues b. Battiston 15-12 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2023/1408?tab=results

Julio Teheran right now is pitching for Toros del Este in the Dominican winter League LIDOM

@George_D @Makedonas we have a Greek derby between Gkountoura and Georgiadou in the quarterfinals in Algiers more surprising results... Martina Criscio beat first Olga Kharlan in rd #2 and then Misaki Emura in rd #3 Caitlin Maxwell upset no.2 seed Anna Bashta in the first round in the top half of the draw we have a double vs fight (Criscio vs Balzer and Battiston vs Rifkiss...it's destiny, nowadays ), meanwhile in the bottom half of the draw we have the Greek derby and the young Briton Maxwell facing Lucia Martin-Portugues. shame on the organizers for not setting up any live stream...

Italian Winter Nationals (Short Course) best of Day #2 (Morning Session) women's 400m IM 1. Sara Franceschi, 4'32"74* men's 50m Back 1. Lorenzo Mora, 23"25* women's 50m Fly 1. Silvia Di Pietro, 25"47 men's 200m Free 1. Marco De Tullio, 1'44"21 2. Matteo Ciampi, 1'44"24 3. Stefano Di Cola, 1'44"29 women's 50m Breast 1. Benedetta Pilato, 29"71* 2. Martina Carraro, 29"98 3. Arianna Castiglioni, 30"17 men's 100m Breast 1. Simone Cerasuolo, 57"04* women's 400m Free 1. Giordana Artic, 4'07"46 2. Antonietta Cesarano, 4'07"53 3. Noemi Cesarano, 4'07"56 men's 100m Fly 1. Matteo Rivolta, 49"49** 2. Simone Stefanì, 50"43 * = swimmers already qualified to the SC Worlds (based on previous results) ** = swimmers who matched the required time to qualify to the SC Worlds the whole group of swimmers of the men's 200m Free are individually outside the qualification mark, but most likely they will all qualify to the SC Worlds through the Relay (today there were also another guy @ 1.44. and 4 guys @ 1.45.) Silvia Di Pietro might also be taken into consideration because she almost matched the required times in the W 50m Free and Fly despite being sick this week, because of her experience and because she's a 25m pool specialist. the last session of the championship is just underway. live here (VPN might be rquired): https://www.raiplay.it/dirette/raisportpiuhd

tonight @ 9 p.m. CET in Pesaro, vs , key match for both teams (and because of the stupid Fiba qualifying rules and "windows", both teams are missing a lot of their key players ). with VPN and a free registration... https://www.raiplay.it/dirette/rai2/Basket-Maschile---Qualificazioni-Mondiali-2023-Italia---Spagna-0d2e9191-3503-415c-808e-9da0490f04fa.html

it looks like we have no streaming from Algiers (at least, it's not listed on the FIE website...I'm going to do some research later).

'cause it's open to skaters from 4 different Continents (in terms of simple participation however it's not only those 5 or 6 competitive Nations).

Australia actually has quite a good tradition (and not only because of unforgettable Bradbury), even if some of their best skaters sometimes choose to represent other Nations once they reach decent level. and don't forget Kazakhstan. they're really building a good team among the men. Japan has a strong tradition, but nowadays they're in a period of "low", as most of their talents play their cards in the most lucrative long track speedskating. but it's not that they can regain their old status sooner or later. in Europe, with Russia out of contention and Hungary dismantled by the Liu brothers switching to China and Krueger leaving the team, it's basically Netherlands, then Italy and way behind 4 or 5 odd individuals here and there (among them, the Desmets, Maliszewksa in the women's sprint events, Seidel in the women's longer distance events, Bykanov in the men's longer distance events and the newcomers among the men). and that's all.

we always have not so strict rules...we can't afford to leave home any decent talent... normally all the global medallists from the previous season are prequalified to the following year's main event, then we use the time table (but looking at the 16th ranked of the last World/Olympic meet) and still our coaches have some discretional margin. this time, as I wrote, they have to keep the team quite small because of the economical situation and the flight to AUS being very expensive. we'll see what our coaches do after this meet.

actually Italy was already among the powerhouses when Short Track wasn't even an Olympic sport (and in the mid Nineties in the men's division we were even better than the Koreans). then we lost that amazing generation through horrible injuries (outside the rink) and we started to decline a bit, even if in the last few years we regained some dignity in the global scene (mainly thanks to Arianna Fontana).

fun fact, Joey Marciano is the great grandchild of the legendary fighter Rocky Marciano.

yes and no... I mean, the core of the team was already determined on the basis of last season's World Champs and European Champs results. then we have a time table for all the swimmers who didn't qualify before. to be precise, all the Budapest 2022 medallists and the Rome 2022 Gold medallists are already qualified by right, then 2 or 3 swimmers earned their ticket in the recent world cup races + last week's meet in Genua and finally those who swim fast enough in this meet also qualify. but the required times are almost impossible to get (basically it's the 8th ranked time of last year's Short Course World Champ), as our federation doesn't want to have a big team flying to Australia because of the economic struggle they're living. for instance, this morning only Pilato (women's 100m Breast), Cerasuolo (men's 50 Breast) and Ciampi (men's 400m Free) swam the qualifying time. and this afternoon only the top 2 in the men's 100m Free and in the women's 200m IM went below those crazy marks. and Pilato and Miressi were already qualified through last season's events (however a few swimmers would eventually fly to Australia because of the relays, too).

Italian Winter Nationals (Short Course) best of Day #1 men's 400m IM 1. Pier Andrea Matteazzi, 4'09"79 women's 50m Back 1. Silvia Scalia, 26"54 men's 50m Fly 1. Matteo Rivolta, 22"43 women's 200m Free 1. Margherita Panziera, 1'57"07* men's 50m Breast 1. Simone Cerasuolo, 25"90** 2. Fabio Scozzoli, 26"18 women's 100m Breast 1. Benedetta Pilato, 1'04"66* 2. Arianna Castiglioni, 1'05"02 3. Martina Carraro, 1'05"20 and 2 more swimmers below the 1.06 mark men's 400m Free 1. Matteo Ciampi, 3'39"31** 2. Marco De Tullio, 3'39"89 women's 100m Fly 1. Ilaria Bianchi, 57"22 2. Elena Di Liddo, 57"48 men's 100m IM 1. Marco Orsi, 52''62 men's 200m Breast 1. Gabriele Mancini, 2'04''77 women's 200m Back 1. Martina Cenci, 2'05''16 men's 100m Back 1. Lorenzo Mora, 49''98* 2. Matteo Rivolta, 50''40 women's 50m Free 1. Silvia Di Pietro, 24''10 men's 1500m Free 1. Ivan Giovannoni, 14'42''76 2. Luca De Tullio, 14'44''40 women's 800m Free 1. Simona Quadarella, 8'15''01* men's 200m Fly 1. Alberto Razzetti, 1'52''49* 2. Giacomo Carini, 1'52''96 3. Christian Ferraro, 1'53''19 women's 200m IM 1. Costanza Cocconcelli, 2'07''12** 2. Sara Franceschi, 2'07''38** 3. Ilaria Cusinato, 2'08''00 men's 100m Free 1. Alessandro Miressi, 46''41* 2. Paolo Conte Bonin, 46''46** * = swimmers already qualified to the SC Worlds (based on previous results) ** = swimmers who matched the required time to qualify to the SC Worlds

Athletics, women's 200m...I agree with @Dragon and I won't take into any consideration Flo-Jo and the East Germany's women, I was also tempted to go with Wilma Rudolph for all she represents (not only on the track), but in the end I feel I have to choose Elaine Thompson-Hera, hoping not to have to regret this choice in a few years. Athletics, women's 3000m SC...once again, I agree with @Dragon...the Tokyo race was just on another level, so I go with Peruth Chemutai. Swimming, men's 200m Breaststroke...here I'm also biased, therefore my pick is Domenico Fioravanti, the first man in history to double up 100m and 200m Breast in the same Olympics (only Kitajima did the same...and he did it twice). And if it wasn't for the doctors that ended prematurely his career, who knows? Judo, women's Half-Middleweights (currently -63kg)...this is a no brainer, Clarisse Agbegnenou is surely the best judo player ever in this class (5 world titles, 5 european titles and so many international tournaments) and Tokyo was the apotheosis of an amzing career. Judo, women's Middleweights (currently -70kg)...difficult choice... so, I also have to go with the only woman who repeated herself in this weight class, Masae Ueno

still, you need to do well right now in order to earn a good seeding for the draw in the tournaments that will actually give points for the Olympic qualification away. and we all know, in the team events, a good draw is as important as that given day's performance. it might be decisive to keep the Olympic dream alive, especially for those "2nd tier" teams that already have to make up for poor world champs last Summer.

2022 Taiwan Series CTBC Brothers are the 2022 Taiwan Series Champions! they just swept the Rakuten Monkey 4 games to 0 (5-3 and 4-1 on the road to start the series, then 7-2 and 3-2 at home to seal the deal). Games recap: Game #1 http://cpblstats.com/brothers-win-g1-taiwan-series-timely-hitting/ Game #2 http://cpblstats.com/tyler-viza-dominates-brothers-win-g2-taiwan-series/ Game #3 http://cpblstats.com/brothers-demolish-monkeys-win-g3-taiwan-series/ Game #4 http://cpblstats.com/ctbc-brothers-win-2022-taiwan-series-championship/

updates on team Italy those names have been included at yesterday's official presentation of the team at the NF headquarter. Ben DeLuzio (OF, St. Louis Cardinals) Matt Festa (RP, Seattle Mariners) David Fletcher (IF, Los Angeles Angels) Dominic Fletcher (OF, Reno Aces, AAA Arizona Diamondbacks) Vito Friscia (C, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, AAA Philadelphia Phillies) Sam Haggerty (UTL, Seattle Mariners) Nicky Lopez (SS/2B, Kansas City Royals) Joey Marciano (RP, Sacramento River Cats, AAA San Francisco Giants) Miles Mastrobuoni (UTL, Tampa Bay Rays) Andre Pallante (RP, St. Louis Cardinals) Vinnie Pasquantino (1B; Kansas City Royals) Mitchell Stumpo (RP, Reno Aces, AAA Arizona Diamondbacks) Brett Sullivan (C/UTL, El Paso Chihuahuas, AAA San Diego Padres)

Fencing is baaaack!!! the new season starts Today in Algiers, with the preliminary rounds of the women and men's Sabre. this weekend will also feature the women's Epee in Tallinn, the men's Epee in Bern and the men's Foil in Bonn, starting Tomorrow. Links to live scoring and streaming, as usual, available on the dedicated pages of the FIE's website. https://fie.org/competitions

at this pace, in a few weeks also the Hungarian born skaters will ask to start for another Country...

are they already short of money? they don't want to host rowing in a proper venue, they want to move the slalom canoeing thousend miles away... they're doing even worse than Japan and Italy... the IOC should take care of these things rather than their "gender equality" and "youth and urban" obsession...

no way get a single chance... even if their "individuals" would eventually get it, there's no chance the Russian teams will be present in Paris in 2024 (even if the war ended today, which is more than impossible).

the "Mecca" of Rink Hockey...when it really matters U19 World Champs GMM ( vs ) Senior World Champs opener ( vs )

well, maybe he doesn't appreciate the fact that some other disciplines might take a bit of attention away from RH... or maybe he doesn't like the format of the tournament, which basically is back having only the top 8 teams in the world and all matches are very difficult, with no days off. surely the Italian team hasn't said anything about that, but you know, Aracu is the president of both World Skate and of the Italian NF, so it's better to keep a low profile. personally, I like that it's all done in a week and that most of the one-sided matches between the usual 4-5 powerhouses and the second/third tier teams are no longer played with this format. and with the "Games" format, it's also easier to find a better media coverage than with the RH tournament all by itself.

KBO 2022 Korean Series the SSG Landers Incheon are the 2022 Korean Series Champions! game #6: Kiwoom Heroes Seoul @ SSG Landers Incheon 3-4 (SSG Landers win the series 4-2) after 2 disastrous seasons when they couldn't even reach the playoffs, the team formerly known as the Wyverns is back on top of Korean Professional Baseball. in game #6, after a couple of quiet innings, the Heroes started the dance with a 2-run stint initiated by a leadoff single followed by a 2-run HR hit by Im Ji-Yeol. however, the Landers immediately answered in the bottom of the 3rd, helped also by a capital mistake of the opposing pitcher and 1st baseman. then the action got quiet once again until the 6th inning, when the match (and the whole series) got decided. in the top of the 6th the Heroes took a 3-2 lead thanks to a solo HR hit by Lee Jung-Ho, but they just couldn't keep the lead, as the Landers turned the score around in the bottom part of the same inning, scoring 2 runs thanks to 2 more errors by the Kiwoom's infielders and a double to left center gap hit by Kim Sung-Jun. there was quite some baseball left, but actually it was already all over, as today the Landers' relievers shut the Heroes down completely and managed to close the game and the whole Championship with no further runs scored. the game ended therefore with a score of 4-3 for the home team and, finally, it was time to celebrate in Incheon.

more to come in the next days...