phelps

Mexico started their campaign in the Super-Round with a convincing win over Chinese Taipei, 2-0 the final score (with the 2 runs scored in the 5th and 6th inning against a fading starter, Chiang Shao-Ching...and a great team effort by the pitching staff, only 3 hits and 3 base-on-balls given up in total by the 6 guys who took the mound for MEX)... so far, Mexico are undefeated and they're getting closer to earn the Olympic spot for the American continent (even if they still have to look at the US boys, who don't look so strong, but they're definitely not to be underestimated either)... Mexico vs Chinese Taipei Boxscore https://premier12.wbsc.org/en/2019/schedule-and-results/box-score/3958 Australia vs Japan & United States vs South Korea are next, in about half an hour...

Borodachev is a real talent...he really revamped the Russian team, because Safin, Zherebchenko & co. are still struggling... yesterday, in the bronze medal match, he literally destroyed Italy (at least, Avola...in what proved to be the decisive moment of the whole match)...

women's 3000m Relay Gold: China Silver: Russia Bronze: Canada

men's 1000m, race #2 Gold: Semen Elistratov Silver: Park In Wook Bronze: Park Ji Won

Elistratov spoiling the Korean party over the men's 1000m...

women's 1000m, race #2 Gold: Han Yu Tong Silver: Courtney Lee Sarault Bronze: Ekaterina Efremenkova

yeah, they played Alicia Keys' success also yesterday after Boutin's win... nice choice, I'd say...

men's 500m Gold: Shaolin Sandor Liu Silver: Hwang Dae Heon Bronze: Pavel Sitnikov

the home woman is on fire also today... women's 500m Gold: Kim Boutin Silver: Martina Valcepina Bronze: Natalia Maliszewska

and earlier today I also watched the Karate WKO World Open Championships (the final stages only, of course) on Youtube...

not the Olympic version, but still a lot of great fighters to watch... Karate WKO World Open Championships 2020 Tokyo (JPN) - 10 November 2019 - 11 November 2019 Women's Medallists Gold: Juri Minamihara Silver: Inga Mikstaite Bronze: Irina Valieva Men's Medallists Gold: Yuji Shimamoto Silver: Maciej Mazur Bronze: Daiki Kato List of Participants Women: https://wko.kumitetechnology.com/categories/146/participants Men: https://wko.kumitetechnology.com/categories/147/participants Watch The Full Tournament Day #1 (Early Rounds), Court #1 Day #1 (Early Rounds), Court #2 Day #2 (Final Stages, up to the Medal Bouts) P.S. Fun fact...this event was held at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, the same venue that will be used for the Tokyo 2020 Badminton Olympic Tournaments...

I don't really know why are they trying to keep weightlifting into the Olympic program at any cost... it's time to get rid of those cheaters...and keep them away until there's even only 1 convicted doper in any single national federation's board (and of course in the IWF's board, too)...

OQR, Team Standings after today's event 1st, USA, 320 pts (Q) 2nd, France, 236 (Q) =3rd, Italy, 188 pts (Q) =3rd, South Korea, 188 pts (Q) 5th, Hong Kong, 186 pts (Q, best Asian team outside the top 4) 6th, Russia, 176 pts (Q, best European team outside the top 4) 7th, Japan, 161 pts 8th, Egypt, 158 pts (Q, best African team outside the top 4) =9th, Germany, 155 pts =9th, China, 155 pts 11th, Great Britain, 135 pts (? but still in the top 16), Canada, 124 pts (Q, best Panamerican team outside the top 4)

so, today's team event in men's Foil is almost completed...and we can do a few early considerations about the Olympic Qualification Ranking... the USA are already leading with big margin...and with today's 52 or 64 points (depending on the Gold Medal match result), they are going to increase their lead over their main rivals... going up to 308 or 320 points, we can consider them already safe in Tokyo... France, despite their poor 5th place in today's competition, are up to 236 points, which mean that they're still in second place with some margin of the rest of the field... and then comes the big pack of teams aiming at the last 2 direct spots and at the continental places... South Korea today get most likely 52 points (but they have a chance of taking 64), which means that they will go up to 188, if not 200 points, which would eventually place them in 3rd position in the OQR... meanwhile, if they only get 52 pts, they could still stay behind Italy, who are going up to 188 (if they lose the 3rd place match vs RUS) or 192 points (if they win Bronze today)... in any case, ITA and KOR will be the 3rd and 4th ranked after today's event... Hong Kong, instead, drop to 5th place in the OQR (186 points) after today's 6th in Bonn (but they would remain the top Asian team outside the top 4 overall, therefore they would still virtually qualify)... Russia will keep their 6th place with 172/176 points (depending on the outcome of the bronze medal match vs ITA)...and keep also their virtual qualification as the top European team outside the top 4 overall Japan were 7th today and are also 7th in the OQR (161 points)... Egypt (today only 14th) are 8th in the OQR with 158 pts and basically sure of a place in Tokyo as the best African team in the standings (no way they drop out of the top 16)... Germany (today only 8th) and China (today only 10th) are tied with 155 points in the OQR, followed by Great Britain with 135 points... finally, Canada with 124 points are also safe as the top Panamerican team outside the top 4 overall (as there's no way the USA would drop out of the top 4)...

Men's Team Foil (Bonn, GER) Final Results Gold: United States Silver: South Korea Bronze: Russia Semifinals: USA b. Russia 45-42 South Korea b. Italy 45-37 Bronze Medal Match: Russia b. Italy 45-40 Gold Medal Match: USA b. South Korea 45-31  Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: https://fie.org/competitions/2020/205

Day #3 Gold Medal matches, Full Replay

Team Rankings women's Sambo Gold: Russia Silver: Ukraine Bronze: Bulgaria men's Sambo Gold: Russia Silver: Mongolia Bronze: Georgia men's Combat Sambo Gold: Russia Silver: Ukraine Bronze: Kazakhstan

Day #3 Medallists women's Sambo, -56kg Gold: Tatiana Kazeniuk Silver: Laure Fournier Bronze: Ana-Maria Ciobanu & Katsiaryna Prakapenka women's Sambo, -68kg Gold: Marina Mokhnatkina Silver: Dildash Kuryshbayeva Bronze: Volha Maleika & Battsetseg Tsog-Ochir women's Sambo, +80kg Gold: Anastasiya Sapsai Silver: Maria Kandratsyeva Bronze: Maria Shekerova & Elene Kebadze men's Sambo, -62kg Gold: Davlatjon Khamroev Silver: Savvas Karakizidis Bronze: Rakhat Zhananiyet & Khusqadam Khusranov men's Sambo, -82kg Gold: Aram Grigorian Silver: Ulugbek Rakhmonov Bronze: David Grigoryan & Besarioni Berulava men's Sambo, +100kg Gold: Purevdorj Damdinsuren Silver: Ilie Daniel Natea Bronze: Andrey Volkov & Beka Berdzenishvili men's Combat Sambo, -52kg Gold: Rodion Askanakov Silver: Nurken Dombayev Bronze: Ganbayar Gankhuyag & Novruz Atayev men's Combat Sambo, -68kg Gold: Stepan Kobenov Silver: Merab Dvalishvili Bronze: Saidyokub Kakhramonov & Yerlan Makhmutov men's Combat Sambo, -90kg Gold: Magomed Magomedov Silver: Tengis Batsaikhan Bronze: Petro Davydenko & Zhanybek Amatov

Golf European Tour, Fencing and Short Track Speedskating World Cup stages, EuroHockey Tour and, later tonight, NFL RedZone (with an eye on Milan-Juventus, Italian Soccer Serie A) are the main dishes of my Sunday's menu...

men's 5000m Relay teams qualified to the A Final China Russia South Korea Hungary

women's 3000m Relay teams qualified to the A Final China Russia Canada Italy

mixed teams 2000m Relay Gold: China Silver: Russia Bronze: South Korea

at the London 6 Days they had that... it was very useful...

men's 1000m, race #1 Gold: Hwang Dae Heon Silver: Steven Dubois Bronze: Han Tianyu