phelps

2022 Karate European Championships ( Gaziantep) May, 25th through May, 29th Day #1 was maybe one of the most surprising session of Karate I saw in the last few years... Nothing new happened in Kata, as expected, but, man! no one of the Kumite events went according to plan/expectation... For Italy, it was basically a disaster, with no gold medal match reached by our guys (even the great Luigi Busà, at his first competition after the Olympic title, couldn't do better than earning a miserable -for his standard- bronze medal match, losing to the most improbable, unknown Englishman Brian Wilkins in the semifinal match)... we all expected him and the eternal Rafael Aghayev to make us the gift of another chapter of their neverending rivalry (it would have been the highlight of the Championship, of course), but both of them couldn't reach the expected showdown... on the other hand, Slovakia @hckošice Croatia @dcro @prso1000 @ all Croatian friends and Hungary @Vektor @ all Hungarian friends seem to have earned the status of powehouses in this sport together with usual suspect and host Nation, Turkey (it's just for this tournament, don't start dreaming too much, guys! ), reaching 2 gold medal matches each in Kumite events... here's a quick recap of the already determined Gold Medal matches (Saturday, May 28th @ 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. CET): Women's Individual Kata: Sandra Sanchez Jaime vs Dilara Bozan Men's Individual Kata: Alì Sofuoglu vs Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila Women's Individual Kumite, -61kg: Ingrida Suchankova vs Anna Miggou Women's Individual Kumite, -68kg: Miroslava Kopunova vs Eda Eltemur Women's Individual Kumite, +68kg: Ivana Perovic vs Aicha Zakia Boussebaa Men's Individual Kumite, -75kg: Erman Eltemur vs Brandon Brian Wilkins Men's Individual Kumite, -84kg: Enes Garibovic vs Daniel Gyorgy Men's Individual Kumite, +84kg: Andjelo Kvesic vs Luca Costa

Italy needs all the active players from this list (and we would have needed also the already retired players, when they were on top of their game)... https://www.italiansrus.com/resources/hockey_list.htm however, what we really need is: a) money...a lot of money, b) infrastrucures, c) kids that really want to play (and why not? succeed in a hockey career), d) most important to start with, interest by our media (to make money and bring up kids, which would lead to building more infrastrucures and so on...we do really need a virtuous circle that's impossible right now and with all our current political and sports leaders)...

I feel like I wasted the afternoon... even worse...it's like I wasted 2 full weeks... maybe it's even like I wasted another year of my life... probably I just wasted my whole life! I'd better watch breakdance and padel next time...

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Individual Sabre ( Padua) Gold: Aron Szilagyi Silver: Gu Bon Gil Bronze: Bolade Apithy & Elliott Bibi Semifinals Szilagyi b. Bibi 15-9 Gu b. Apithy 15-14 Final Szilagyi b. Gu 15-14 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/162

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Women's Individual Sabre ( Padua) Gold: Anna Bashta Silver: Risa Takashima Bronze: Misaki Emura & Caroline Queroli Semifinals Bashta b. Emura 15-9 Takashima b. Queroli 15-12 Final Bashta b. Takashima 15-11 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/676

I guess someone has put his hands on the other's wife/girlfriend... as we say in Italy: "probabilmente è solo una questione di corna"..."most likely, it's just a matter of horn" (=betrayal) p.s. normally, in Italy those kind of questions end up with someone bleeding, if not worse...it's a really serious issue...

hey, man! with that score, we would have won the gold medal...easily! joking, of course... yeah, that was definitely a missed call that they will have to explain to their supervisors, but the refereeing was poor in general, I don't agree at all with those who say that it was favourable to Italy..at all... it was the opposite, in case...

who? those people in black & white who called a phantom penalty that opened the door to Ehlers to score the first goal, which should also have been denied because of the clearly illegal (under IIHF rules) move by Bau in front of Bernard? or the same people who called a penalty that basically sealed the deal for Denmark with just over 2 mins to be played when the usual suspect (Mathias Bau, always him!) made a dive that would have made Klaus Di Biasi proud when he was on top of that sport?

Karate 1 Premier League Stage #3 ( Rabat) Medallists Recap Women's Individual Kata Gold: Hikaru Ono Silver: Grace Lau Mo Sheung Bronze #1: Natsuki Shimizu Bronze #2: Maho Ono Men's Individual Kata Gold: Kazumasa Moto Silver: Gakuji Tozaki Bronze #1: Sakichi Abe Bronze #2: Kakeru Nishiyama Women's Individual Kumite, -50kg Gold: Reem Ahmed Salama Silver: Gema Morales Ozuna Bronze #1: Yorgelis Salazar Bronze #2: Asia Agus Women's Individual Kumite, -55kg Gold: Anzhelika Terliuga Silver: Ahlam Youssef Bronze #1: Maya Schaerer Bronze #2: Sonia Pereira Villalobos Women's Individual Kumite, -61kg Gold: Dahab Ali Silver: Aurora Graziosi Bronze #1: Fatima-Zahra Chajai Bronze #2: Lynn Snel Women's Individual Kumite, -68kg Gold: Elena Quirici Silver: Nisrine Brouk Bronze #1: Kyriaki Kydonaki Bronze #2: Feryal Abdelaziz Women's Individual Kumite, +68kg Gold: Ayumi Uekusa Silver: Shaaban Okila Menna Bronze #1: Martina Sachova Bronze #2: Habiba Helmy Men's Individual Kumite, -60kg Gold: Alì Abdel Jina Silver: Mohamed Salah Mohamed Bronze #1: Aminagha Guliyev Bronze #2: Abdullah Shaaban Men's Individual Kumite, -67kg Gold: Dionysios Xenos Silver: Ahmed Aiman Lofty Bronze #1: Gianluca De Vivo Bronze #2: Yves Martial Tadissi Men's Individual Kumite, -75kg Gold: Abdalla Abdelaziz Silver: Alì Elsawy Bronze #1: Daniele De Vivo Bronze #2: Ahmed El Sharaby Men's Individual Kumite, -84kg Gold: Youssef Badawy Silver: Mohammad Aljafari Bronze #1: Thameur Slimani Bronze #2: Nabil Ech-Chaabi Men's Individual Kumite, +84kg Gold: Taha Tarek Mahmoud Silver: Babacar Seck Sakho Bronze #1: Hazem Mohamed Bronze #2: Luca Costa

I fear they have to update their infosystem... I'm pretty sure we already have that anti-record... I remember very well that famous match against Sweden in Prague 1992, when we got the most unlikey 0-0 tie and the shots card was something like 60-1...

well, it's been beautiful until it lasted... still, the only game that matters is the one against France...

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Individual Foil ( Incheon) Gold: Tommaso Marini Silver: Ryan Choi Chun Yin Bronze: Alessio Foconi & Maximilien Chastenet Semifinals Choi b. Foconi 15-14 Marini b. Chastenet 15-13 Final Marini b. Choi 15-14 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/145

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Women's Individual Foil ( Incheon) Gold: Lee Kiefer Silver: Eleanor Harvey Bronze: Alice Volpi & Anne Sauer Semifinals Kiefer b. Sauer 15-5 Harvey b. Volpi 15-13 Final Kiefer b. Harvey 15-11 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/457

well, at least this time it wasn't humiliating as the last time we played Switzerland (9-0, 3 years ago)... we did even score a couple of goals... p.s. Slovakia losing to Germany...what's new?

Stage #3 of the Karate 1 Premier League is underway in Rabat and it's sad to be said, but in my whole life (since I've been following Karate) I've never seen a poor participation in a K1PL event like this week (average level is even way below Serie A standard)... never, even before Karate was thought to become an Olympic sport... however, see you tomorrow for our usual medallists' recap...

Women's Epee stage (Individual & Team events) in Fujarah has been cancelled beacause of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed's death.

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Team Epee ( Heidenheim) Gold: South Korea Silver: Germany Bronze: France Semifinals South Korea b. Hungary 37-36 Germany b. France 45-30 Bronze Medal Match France b. Hungary 45-43 Gold Medal Match South Korea b. Germany 45-32 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/454

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Individual Epee ( Heidenheim) Gold: Romain Cannone Silver: Houssam Elkord Bronze: Gabriele Cimini & Mate Tamas Koch Semifinals Cannone b. Koch 15-9 Elkord b. Cimini 15-14 Final Cannone b. Elkord 15-11 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/98

SHL Färjestad BK are Swedish champions 2021/2022... Game #7 of the SHL Finals between the home team Luleå HF and Färjestad BK Karlstad was a pure defensive struggle since the beginning, with players and coaches feeling all the pressure and fear typical of this kind of matches. For good 50 minutes, the only aim of both teams was to avoid any scoring chance by the opponents, without really trying to build some well structured offensive flow by themselves. They just relied on individual efforts, hoping for a mistake by the opposing defense or goalie. But about halfway through the 3rd period, a sudden and unexpected knuckleball by Jesse Virtanen got past Luleå's goalie Lassinantti and that was enough, because the home team reaction didn't sort anything out more than a few shots saved by Dominik Furch and and one hitting the post once they could beat Färjestad's amazing Czech goalie. The game was definitively over with 2 mins still to be played, when Linus Johansson scored the second goal of the guests. The 3rd and final empty netter was just cosmetic. Färjestad wins game #7 on the road by a score of 3-0 (0-0, 0-0, 3-0) and the whole series by a score of 4 games to 3. It's the 10th overall title for Färjestad, the first since 2011. And it's the first time that a team finishing the regular season outside the top 4 spots ends up winning the playoffs (Färjestad was only 6th after this year's RS). LEAGUE SUMMARY Regular Season Final Standings https://stats.swehockey.se/ScheduleAndResults/Standings/12318 Playoffs Rounds Recap https://stats.swehockey.se/ScheduleAndResults/Overview/12319 Final Series Game #1: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 4-1 (1-1; 0-0; 3-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168061?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #2: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 4-0 (2-0; 1-0; 1-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168294?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #3: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 5-4 OT (3-1; 0-1; 1-2; 1-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168352?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #4: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 3-2 OT (2-0; 0-1; 0-1; 1-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168440?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #5: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 4-0 (0-0; 1-0; 3-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168690?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #6: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 3-1 (2-0; 0-0; 1-1) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168959?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #7: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 0-3 (0-0; 0-0; 0-3) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/169361?provider=staylive&autoplay=1

yeah, but that's not surprising at all... Hockey is really at the bottom of the list of sports covered by our media... even the NHL is treated like a true "small sport" (and the idiots in Toronto treat the few die-hard fans in Italy as our media do with their league, which is so sad)... as I told you, I had to buy NHL.tv as if I were a Slovak living in Slovakia to be able to watch all the NHL playoffs games...that says it all, I think...

unfortunately, Arizona is not up for relocation anymore...they have signed a long time loan with the arena and have new investors in the ownership that have assured they won't move for many years... however, it didn't change anything in the environment around the team...they're always a low budget bunch of losers... Seattle instead, is a different story... they have a big and passionate fanbase, a newly reconstructed wonderful arena (and training center), a good hockey background in the area (despite not having a pro team in the last 50 years) and a good develpment plan for the future... they just built the new team with wrong players and a doubtful (to say the least) strategy, which led them to start their NHL campaign with a disappointing losing season and probably they are also set to be a losing team still for quite some time... but I wouldn't name them a graveyard (like Arizona or Buffalo, for instance)... Montreal, as we wrote earlier, really doesn't fit Slaf's game... they just play another style of hockey than what he needs to excel and shine...and they also don't have money enough to rebuold the technical staff and most of their roster to change their (not successful) destiny...

naaa, Rybar has been great at the Olympics... and the others aren't that bad... however, I envy all the rest, especially the passion for the game of the whole Country and the great moments you've had the chance to live thanks to your NT...

well, I'm not sure Seattle is a great destination (the team, not the city nor the fanbase, which are wonderful), but maybe I'm wrong... for sure, this year they have been really disappointing (but it was expected, after the kind of team they built in the expansion draft)... Arizona, please, no...it would be like a good retirement even before the start of his NHL career... I don't know if there's a place worse than Glendale for any player looking for a bright future in the NHL...

nice lineup...and finally, New Jersey might be a better destination for Slaf... playing either with Hischier and/or Hughes might give him a lot of scoring chances... I hope he gets enough consideration from the training staff since the early days (wherever he ends up playing, but especially should he go to the Devils)... Montreal would be an intriguing, dreamy place to play hockey, but I fear that team is not the ideal for him, because of the style of play they have (it might be something like the early NHL days of Majo Gaborik in Minnesota, where he had to play almost like a D-man rather than taking advantage of his skills) and because I think they're gonna have quite a few losing season ahead of them...

naaa...Kostner played all season with Ambrì... he recorded 13.29 mins of TOI, 13 points (6+7) and -4 of plus/minus in 47 games... p.s. Fazio is also a good goalie...I wouldn't be surprised if he's going to be our no.1 this year (even if I think that finally we're going to rotate all of them in the 7 games we're playing in Finland)... McNally...well, I don't really know him, tbh... no idea on where his Italian heritage comes from (marriage? mom? grannies? who knows? ), I only know that he got our passport back in December 2019, while playing for Asiago in the Alps League... however, this is his page on Elite Prospects... https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/75027/brandon-mcnally