phelps

wow! your girlfriend is really lucky...they look delicious (and they are also so beautiful to watch)...congrats!

this is -like it already happened in Rio- the most stupid and tv audience unfriendly schedule they could build... I mean, there are a lot of matches at the same time, they use 2 different stadiums...and they always put an accent on the cost saving... why didn't they just build a single venue (possibly indoor, maybe even a temporary structure, as I don't think in Japan they need a big permanent hockey stadium, given the very limited popularity of the sport, so to allow games to be played all day long in safe environmental conditions) ans have the usual 6 games a day schedule as almost every other team sport with 12 participants? and if they say they need to end the tournament on the last friday, without going deep into the final couple of days of the Games, well, they could have easily scheduled the 1st game day for both the men and the women on wednesday and thursday before the opening ceremony, just like soccer (and this time even softball), keeping a perfect 16-gameday tournament ending on the scheduled 3rd last day of the Games... easier done than said... but no, they have to mess it up to the (already very few) hardcore fans they have... to me, these are already the worst Games ever (among all those I had the chance to follow personally, since L.A. 1984) and those I have the lowest hype ever for... and I fear things are only getting worse and worse every edition of the Olympics, as I feel they're just doing as much as they can to destroy my "favourite toy" more and more every single day...

updated OQR after this weeken's competitions... Women's Sabre https://tokyo2020.fie.org/ranks#tab-table Women's Foil https://tokyo2020.fie.org/ranks#tab-table Men's Foil https://tokyo2020.fie.org/ranks#tab-table

what an heartbreaker! poor Switzerland... but congrats to Sweden...it wasn't easy to come back on the field for the OT after taking the game-tying goal with only 8 seconds left on the clock in regulation and they did it with furious determination...

I don't even have the power to feel angry or sad...I only feel so ashamed... this guys have really taken the Italian hockey to an unprecedented (low) level... they are hopeless and useless...I sincerely wish them a bright future in the Chinese coal mines...

and here we have the current scores in the women's team sabre OQR after the SLC stage... 1. 312 2. 272 3. 254 4./5. 234 4./5. 225 6. 216 7. 211 8. 200 9. 168 10. 151 11. 143 12. 142 13. 136 =14. 125 =14. 125 16. 122 17. 102 18. 92 19. 84 =20. 74 =20. 74 a lot of turnarounds here... while Russia, despite an awful outing today, keep their lead in the ranking with some margin, France consolidate their score and overtake Korea in second place... the Asians, however, are still 3rd with quite a few points margin over the following European pack including Italy, Hungary (still to be seen who's going to be 4th and who's going to be 5th at the end of the day, depending on the outcome of the final matches) and Ukraine, who are going to get a lot closer to the qualification line... the fight for the last ranking spot and the European continental place will be very entertaining (for neutral spectators...heartbreaking for the 3 teams involved and their fans)... considering the current trend, however, Italy are the main candidate to end the campaign on the wrong side (unless a miracle happens in the lower part of the ranking and someone are capable of a great comeback and pushes Tunisia out of the top 16, which is highly unlikely...especially after today's event)... the USA are also not completely out of the top 4, but it's more a theoretical chance than a true target for them...however they keep steadily the qualification spot through the continental ranking, as Canada are definitely too far away to be a serious threat... finally, as written above, Tunisia, despite losing 1 or 2 positions in the OQR are still well safe among the top 16 of the OQR, which is what they need to qualify to the Tokyo Games... EDIT: updated after the end of the tournament...

Women's Team Sabre (Salt Lake City, USA) Final Results Gold: France Silver: Hungary Bronze: United States Semifinals: Hungary b. Ukraine 45-42 France b. USA 45-31 Bronze Medal Match: USA b. Ukraine 45-39 Gold Medal Match: France b. Hungary 45-25  Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: https://fie.org/competitions/2020/826

yes, I think that at 99.9% the 3 starters for Italy in women's Foil are Volpi, Errigo and Di Francisca, with Batini fighting for the reserve spot in the team event... in any case, normally, at any world cup stage we don't use the individual event as a selection for the team competition of the following day...this thing is always decided before the start of the tournament...

no comment...just no comment... Italy were 35-22 ahead after 7 out of 9 assaults in the gold medal match vs Russia and 39-28 after 8 assaults... and Di Francisca still managed to lose her last stint against Deriglazova by a score of 14-2 (she still had a 2-hit advantage with 3 seconds left on the clock), gifted the Russian of the most unexpected win at the OT...

up... Medal Matches Replay

current projected scores in women's team Foil... 1. 372 2. 300 3. 248 4. 246 5. 223 6. 196 7. 179 8. 171 9. 165 10. 166 11. 159 12. 133 13. 130 14. 128 15. 96 16. 94 17. 81 18. 80 19. 80 Egypt not only strenghten their position, but earned a place, overtaking Singapore in 15th place overall... final update after the end of today's tournament...

they have 8 quota places available, but if they want more, they have to qualify (and if they do it in women's foil, they can use the quota places in other disciplines)...

another very important result is Egypt's 13th or 14th place at the end of the day, which means that they will earn a lot of points over the teams immediately following them in the 16th and last useful position to save their continental spot...

yeah, at the moment they can still gain from 4 to 14 points over Poland (and 11 to 18 over Germany)... at worst, at the end of today's event they're going to be tied with POL (and with some margin over GER, who were tied before today's competition)... the main problem for all of these teams is the bad result of the French girls, with Japan getting closer to them for the 4th place (but they're still quite some points behind)...

it's also her first win in the pursuit format... now she's in the elite of those who won at least 1 race in every (individual competition) format...

It's all in the same page linked at the end of the previous post... meanwhile here you can find the live streaming... http://kabcom.fr/livestreaming/

Women's Team Foil (St.Maur, FRA) Final Results Gold: Russia Silver: Italy Bronze: Japan Semifinals: Russia b. Japan 40-21 Italy b. Hungary 45-28 Bronze Medal Match: Japan b. Hungary 45-32 Gold Medal Match: Russia b. Italy 42-41  Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: https://fie.org/competitions/2020/755

up...

up...

my ideal situation is a bit different...

Russia have 21 days to appeal the 4-year ban to CAS... and they will surely do it... therefore, nobody really know how to deal with this ban until at least CAS have done their job (and then it's always possible another appeal to the Swiss Federal Court)... it's gonna take quite some time before we have a definitive word on this situation...right now, it's a good thing to take time and wait without taking any option off the table...

USA, yes... France, basically yes, even if it's not mathematical Italy, not at all...there are 4 teams (ITA, KOR, HKG and RUS) for 2 places...and if both KOR and HKG end up in 3rd and 4th place, one between ITA and RUS will stay home (as it's true for the opposite, if ITA and RUS both make it into the top 4, then 1 beetween KOR and HKG have to watch the Games on TV)... and this fight will also have implications on the European and Asian continental spots... it will be a close fight until the last competition of the OQP...

according to today's results, this is the projection of the Olympic Qualification Ranking... 1. 372/384 2. 288/300 3. 228 4. 220 5. 216 6. 212 7. 187 8. 183 9. 181 10. 178 11. 155 12. 137 13. 131 14. 122 15. 116 the fully updated ranking will be available here as soon as possible... https://tokyo2020.fie.org/ranks?weapon=F&gender=M the USA are more and more safe into the lead, with only France keeping the pace... Italy are making a little step ahead of their main rivals for the 3rd and/or 4th place, as did Korea by edging Hong Kong out of the top 4... Russia, however, are getting closer and closer to the top 4... for what concerns the other continental spots, Egypt are safe in the top 16, meanwhile Canada are losing ground and now they are dangerously close to the 16th place line (and Brazil couldn't take advantage of today's big chance, as they also missed out on a place in the top 16 in Tokyo)...

Women's Individual Sabre (Salt Lake City, USA) Final Results Gold: Olga Kharlan Silver: Qian Jiarui Bronze: Manon Brunet & Seo Ji Yeon Semifinals: Kharlan b. Brunet 15-9 Qian b. Seo 15-14 Gold Medal Match: Kharlan b. Qian 15-9  Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: https://fie.org/competitions/2020/470 Semifinals & Final Replay

Tokyo's Team Finals (Bronze Medal match running right now, Gold Medal match to follow immediately after this)