phelps

sure, right now definitely we can't stop them... but, as I wrote, sooner or later, with a bit of luck and a lot of investments, it might be possible...at least, I hope... on the other hand, look at all the main doping cases of the recent past...they all came out only because of the olympic samples re-tests, but at the right time no one of them was caught (actually, some of them have not been caught also by those re-tests and are only supposed to have taken illegal drugs and DQed only because of that -with CAS calling a few of those disqualifications back after some time)...

to be honest, this whole system of the out-of-competition test is crazy and violates I don't know how many laws and privacy rules in most Countries of the world... considering that they don't have a single chance to catch the real cheaters with this procedures (they surely can't even enter Nations like China, North Korea, Russia or the same USA without keeping record of their arrival or without having asked for visa weeks -if not months- before, so the athletes who are supposed to take a test with no advice actually have all the chances to know they're coming well in advance), it's better to use money and other resources to develop more effective tests to be performed even with years of advice but capable of finding any single banned substance and trace of blood and genetic manipulation completed in quite a long period of time, so to be able to ask all the athletes to take a single test a year (just before their main event of the season) without all this whereabouts sh*t and at the same time to make it impossible for them to come at a global event under the effect of any sort forbidden practice...

for fencing and baseball you can find everything in the dedicated threads of this forum (the fencing world cup dates are in their dedicated thread, of course)...

EDIT: I did find the entire hearing... it's supposed to last until tonight after 8 p.m. CET... then it's time for the judges to take their final decision... https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3037894/watch-wada-vs-sun-yang-and-fina-cas-hearing-live-switzerland-chinas

the women's tournaments probably are not so expensive as the men's...

and in fact I didn't make any comparison about times nor even other skaters...just the one opposed to his teammate, he should outskate even on 1 leg... p.s. for what it might count (not so much, tbh), in Minsk he won the European 5000m title just before the 2018 Olympics...so, he still has some good feelings and connections to this track and place...

Big inning earns South Korea Olympic spot & WBSC Premier 12 Final Mexico took the lead in the top of the fifth on a two-run homer by Jonathan Jones. In the bottom half of the frame, 11 Korean batters produced seven runs. The Mexican bullpen just collapsed, as 4 relievers needed 64 pitches to complete the task, only 35 were strikes. South Korea thus completed a seven-run fifth inning to defeat Mexico (7-3 the final score) and advance to the final of the 2019 WBSC Premier 12. Today's Korean success does also mathematically advance Samurai Japan to Sunday’s Championship Game. South Korea thus also earned the Asia/Oceania Region spot in the 2020 Olympics. Mexico will play in the bronze medal game and is still aiming at the Panamerican spot in the Olympics. Today's match Boxscore https://premier12.wbsc.org/en/2019/schedule-and-results/box-score/3967

or, in other words... or, even better... in 2 words...poor Mexico! I must admit that I rooted for them all week long and I'm so sad that they couldn't make the final... but there's still a lot to play for on Sunday (the Olympic qualification)... so, viva Mexico! vamos!

yeah, the important thing was getting back to a world level competition... now it's time to start working to get back where he once was... p.s. but losing to Malfatti...

moreover, the draw of the actual tournaments is scheduled for November 27th at the FIBA headquarters in Switzerland...

the Mexican dream is close to be over... South Korea have taken a 7-2 lead right now (bottom of the 5th inning)... with this (partial) result, are also close to earn the Asia/Oceania Olympic spot available in this tournament...

wait...wait... nothing has been decided yet... FINA asked for a 2-to-8 year ban if the CAS would eventually sentence Sun guilty of the facts he's been accused of... today the public hearing is (was?) scheduled, then the CAS still has to take its decision... right now, the situation is still exactly the same as of the last 10 months...

a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 7th inning by Brent Rooker against a fading starting pitcher from Chinese Taipei (Wu Sheng-Feng) saved the US boys and keeps their hope to make at least the Bronze Medal game alive... on the other side, Chinese Taipei now are in a very complicated position and only a very unlikely combination of favourable results between today and tomorrow could send them to the Bronze Medal match... Final score: United States, 3 b. Chinese Taipei, 2 Boxscore: https://premier12.wbsc.org/en/2019/schedule-and-results/box-score/3966

I wouldn't say the US guys are safe in Bronze Medal match...they still need TPE to beat AUS tomorrow and KOR not to end with a 2W-3L record (since they can't match the Team Quality Balance of both KOR and TPE in a 3-way tie with them)... meanwhile, if TPE lose to AUS, the USA are 5th and out of the medal matches in any case (as they lost to both KOR and AUS, the only teams they can still reach in the standings -not counting TPE, as they are going to end up behind the USA whatever it happens in the remaining games)... on the other side, in the top half of the standings, if MEX lose to KOR, they are mathematically out of the Gold Medal game (tomorrow's JPN vs KOR becomes a warm-up match towards Sunday's Gold Medal game between the 2 Asian powerhouses), as they would have lost the direct match-ups with both KOR and JPN, the only teams they can finish tied with (a 3-way tie is not possible)... they really need to win today, if they want to make their first ever senior global big final...

so, at least 1 between EGY or GHA will qualify for the Olympics...

Group A, Day #3 Egypt b. Cameroon 2-1 Ghana b. Mali 2-0 Group A, Final Ranking Egypt, 9 Pts (Q) Ghana, 4 Pts (+1 Goals Difference, Q) Cameroon, 4 Pts (0 Goals Difference, eliminated) Mali, 1 Pt (eliminated)

not only...they did show at the last world cup that the best African teams are not so poor...now we have at least NGR and SEN who are even better than some European and Panamerican team (SEN beat LAT + NGR beat ARG, TUR and GRE last year...and even when they lost, they did it by a reasonable margin -except for NGR being thrashed by the USA in the quarterfinals)... there are sports granting very weak teams places because of Home and/or Continental representation...and where they are technically entitled to have something safe, they don't get it...

following today's loss, Marcello Lippi resigned from his role of coach of the Chinese National team... having watched the match, I wouldn't name Iran's loss a surprise...they were really out of synch, not acting as a team, too much focused on complaining against the ref...add to that a stupid red card with still about a quarter of an hour to go and bad attitude overall and you get what they got...losing badly in the stoppage time... I feel sorry for our friend @MHSN...it must have been very painful watching today's match...

Knockout Stage Round Of 16, Part 2 Wednesday 13.11.2019 - Results 18:00 Mountfield HK (CZE) - Adler Mannheim (GER) 1-0

correct...

no, we have no chance anymore... Israel won the European spot and the Netherlands will have a (remote) last chance at the global tournament next Spring in Taipei...

next Friday, Nicola Tumulero will make his comeback with the Italian National team after about 1 and 1/2 years out because of that infamous injury sustained in the placing races of the Team Pursuit in Pyeongchang... I really hope he can get back to the same level he had before that dog day of February 2018...

the living legend Mike Piazza is back with the Italian National team... and this time he's the new manager of the team, after the previous stint as hitting instructor during the WBC 2006 and from 2009 through 2017...

forgot to post them at the right time..but these are the final tables of the 2 main Asian Leagues... CENTRAL LEAGUE POST-SEASON BRACKET Playoffs, Round #1* Climax Series** Yokohama DeNA BayStars 1 Yomiuri Giants 3 Hanshin Tigers 2 Hanshin Tigers (PO, Rd #1 winners) 1 PACIFIC LEAGUE POST-SEASON BRACKET Playoffs, Round #1* Climax Series** Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2 Saitama Seibu Lions 0 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 1 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PO, Rd #1 winners) 4 * = Best-of-3 Series (all games played on the turf of the higher seeded team) ** =Max-of-7 Series (all games played on the turf of the higher seeded team) JAPAN SERIES (Best-of-7 Series) Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks b. Yomiuri Giants 4 - 0 (7-2; 6-3; 6-2; 4-3) KBO PLAYOFFS BRACKET Wild Card Series (Best-of-3, with all games on the turf of the higher seeded team, also starting from 1-0 in the series) LG Twins (#4) b. NC Dinos (#5) 2-0 (Bonus Win; 3-1) Semi-Playoffs Series (Best-of-5 Series) Kiwoom Heroes (#3) b. LG Twins (WCS Winners) 3-1 (1-0; 5-4; 2-4; 10-5) Playoffs Series (Best-of-5 series) Kiwoom Heroes (#3, Semi-Playoffs Series Winners) b. SK Wyverns (#2) 3-0 (3-0; 8-7; 10-1) 2019 Korean Series (Best-of-7 series) Doosan Bears (#1) b. Kiwoom Heroes 4-0 (7-6; 6-5; 5-0; 11-9)

It all happened in the early stages of the big match... Japan scored twice in the 1st inning and once in the second against a shaky Mexican starting pitcher (Horacio Ramirez), meanwhile Mexico could only answer with a solo HR by Jonathan Jones in the top of the 4th... apart from that, the game was totally under control of the pitching staffs, with Imanaga (starter), Kaino, Yamamoto (relievers) and Yamasaki (closer) givin'up only 1 hit and 2 base-on-balls in 9 innings... Final score: Japan, 3 b. Mexico, 1 Boxscore https://premier12.wbsc.org/en/2019/schedule-and-results/box-score/3965 following this game, the standings before the rest day (tomorrow) look like this: Japan, 3W - 1L Mexico, 3W - 1L South Korea, 2W - 1L Chinese Taipei, 1W - 2L Australia, 1W - 3L United States, 1W - 3L the key games on Friday and Saturday are: USA vs TPE above all, because a US loss would eliminate them from both the Olympic race for the Panamerican spot and the chance to reach the Bronze Medal match... then, MEX vs KOR, with a lot of implications for both teams (and JPN, too)... finally, according to the results of those 2 match-ups, JPN vs KOR and/or TPE vs AUS could also become decisive for the Olympic qualification and also the final placements in the Super-Round (and the consequential qualification to the Gold and/or Bronze Medal matches)... in a few words, we have 4 games left (all of them with potential big implications in the outcome of the whole tournament) and a totally undetermined situation in the standings...could someone ask for more?