phelps

Road to Bratislava/Košice Exhibition Games April 25th, 2019 (15 Days to Go)- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finland - Sweden 5-4 Slovenia (Div I A) - Italy 3-2 (0-0; 0-1; 3-1) Latvia - Russia 2-1 After Overtime Germany - Austria 2-3

Mixed Teams 10m Air Pistol, teams qualified to the Quarterfinals Russia #1 South Korea #1 Turkey Germany #1 India #1 China #1 China #2 Japan #1

I think this format is definitely more interesting and exciting than the previous one... still, I hate those mixed events...

end of dreams for the Slovakian pair...they lost 4 sets to 2 against a Japanese duo... and we have the first medallists, as both pairs losing in the semifinal matches will get in any case their bronze medal... the 4 pairs into the semifinals are 2 from China (facing each other, which means that we won't have an all-CHN final) and 1 each from Japan and Germany (which means that in this discipline we won't have an all-Asian sweep)... unfortunately we won't have the same variety of Nations and Continents in all the 5 disciplines...

in the meantime, in the women's singles, tonight it's gonna be the round of 16... there are 16 girls still in the game and they are all from Asia (5x CHN, 4x JPN, 2x HKG, 2x PRK, KOR, TPE, SGP)...

typical from this generation of Italians...they just can't cope with the pressure of the individual matches...

in any case, all 4 televised tables are free to watch at ittf.com (you just need to register to itTV service, but it's 100% free)... p.s. @hckosice I also discovered that Arena Sport is showing a lot of live action from this Championship in SVK...probably they will show the quarterfinal match of your mixed double's pair live (it's scheduled for 7.45 p.m. CET, if I remember correctly)... and you also have a man (this time a China-born Slovakian, unlikely the 2 guys of the mixed doubles, who have 100% Slovakian sounding names) in the round of 16 in the men's singles...

European Leagues, yesterday's action summary... Czech Extraliga, Finals: game #4 of the Extraliga Finals was very, very tight...not too much action on the ice and a lot shaky nerves among players and coaches... the game summary is basically down to a good goal by Liberec inexplicably not given by the refs in the first period, the opening score always by Liberec in the second period and the final assault to Liberec's net by the home team, who finally paid off with less than 2 minutes to play... after that, came the OT, where almost nothing happened for quite a while, until Bìlì Tygřy suddenly got the game winning goal thanks to Tomáš Havlìn in the 75th minute. it was tough, but still a deserved win for them... final score of game #4: Třinec, 1 vs Liberec, 2 (OT), which means that the series is now tied 2-2... game #5 is scheduled for next Friday, April 26th in Liberec, as always @ 5 p.m. CET Swedish SHL, Finals: Djurgårdens IF were looking for revenge after losing the series opener and they found it big time. They had a strong start and dominated game #2 in front of a sellout crowd at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. the final score is Djurgårdens IF 5, vs Frölunda HC,1 which means that the series is now tied 1-1. game #3 is scheduled for Tomorrow, April 25th in Göteborg @ 7.30 p.m. CET game #2 highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/50860863 Finnish Liiga, Finals: home ice factor still decisive, which means that tis time it was HPK Hämeenlinna's turn to succeed...and in fact they won game #2 against Kärpät Oulu by a score of 3-1. the series is therefore now tied 1-1 also in Finland... game #3 is scheduled for Tomorrow, April 25th in Oulu @ 6.30 p.m. local time, 5.30 p.m. CET

no, she's the second shooter in that list... Marco De Nicolo earned his Olympic Quota (men's 50m 3-Position Rifle) for Tokyo 2020 already back in February in New Delhi...

yes, I already fixed that (I thought that China already had the full contingent, but I checked it out and I was wrong, so I had to fix my initial mistake)...

2019 World Cup, Stage #4 (Beijing, CHN) Women's 10m Air Pistol Gold: Kim Min Jung Silver: Vitalina Batsarashkina Bronze: Veronika Major Olympic Quota: Georgia, Mongolia Men's 50m 3-Position Rifle Gold: Filip Nepejchal Silver: Sergey Kamenskiy Bronze: Zhao Zhonghao Olympic Quota: Czech Republic, China

by the way, it's certain that Sydney Crosby won't play for Team Canada this year...meanwhile it looks that Matt Murray will be one of their goalies in Slovakia... more news in the next few days...

elsewhere around Europe, yesterday (and before)... Czech Extraliga, Finals: HC Ocelàři Třinec proved just too strong for Bìlì Tygřy Liberec in game #3 of the final series...Třinec never looked really under pressure and finally they won the game by a score of 4-1, with only some great saves by Liberec's goalie Roman Will keeping his team away from a worse loss... therefore, Třinec now lead the series 2-1... game #4 is scheduled for Today, April 23rd once again in Třinec, once again @ 5 p.m. CET Swedish SHL, Finals: in a fully packed Scandinavium, Frölunda HC just edged out Djurgårdens IF by a score of 5-3 in the series opener, mainly thanks to a better start in the game... so, because of that, Frölunda HC obviously also lead the series 1-0... game #2 is scheduled for Today, April 23rd in Stockholm @ 7.30 p.m. CET game #1 highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/50692869 Austrian EBEL, Finals: and just because I mentioned it in the previous update, finally in the 5th game of the series the home ice factor has been nullified so yesterday KAC Klagenfurt won game #5 on the road in front of a very disappointed Wien's crowd by a score of 2-0... thanks to this result, now KAC lead the series 3-2 and tomorrow they will have to complete an amazing playoff run and clinch the title on the home ice... game #6 is scheduled for Tomorrow, April 24th in Klagenfurt @ 8.20 p.m. CET German DEL, Finals: Adler Mannheim on fire in game #3 of the DEL Finals...after losing game #1, they quickly changed the pace of their game and for Red Bull Munich it looks the night has come down, darker than ever... yesterday Mannheim didn't leave Munich a chance to keep themselves into the game...they scored the 1-0 goal after only 5 seconds (5 seconds!!! it must be one of the quickest goals in the history of the game) and finally they won by a score of 4-1... therefore, now Mannheim lead the series 2-1 (and also regained and kept the home ice advantage through the series)... game #4 is scheduled for Tomorrow, April 24th in Munich @ 7.15 p.m. CET game #3 highlights https://www.magentasport.de/event/adler-mannheim-ehc-red-bull-muenchen/451270

I think we'll see Lopez (if we will see him at all) only in Nur-Sultan (formerly known as Astana) next September (and possibly in Tokyo next year, of course)...

news about the Olympic Format in the Mixed Team Events... https://totallympics.com/index.php?/topic/1448-shooting-issf-world-cup-2019/page/28/&tab=comments#comment-204559

by the way, in Olympic perspective, the most important news of the day is another: New formats for mixed team events to be tested The governing body of the sport of shooting, the ISSF, has announced it’s to trial new formats for mixed team events as the sport prepares for the Tokyo2020 Olympic Games. The ISSF Executive Committee has approved testing of the new formats in Air Rifle, Air Pistol, Trap and Skeet. The idea is to make the competitions more exciting, and also to make it more understandable for those watching on TV. Eliminations in Mixed Team Finals formats in use were introduced in 2018. That has led to a crowded Field of Play, with double the normal amount of athletes and officials. Now the ISSF has decided to change to a system of semifinals followed by two medal matches with two teams in each match. Testing will take place at all ISSF supervised competitions of 2019, starting with the World Cups in Beijing (Rifle/Pistol events) and Changwon (Shotgun). It will allow officials to fine tune the new formats that will be used at the Tokyo2020 Olympic Games.

and once again Zublasing fails...and not only she fails to make the podium in the actual competition, but what's even worse, she fails to earn an Olympic spot... time and events are running out...and we have got only 1 pistol/rifle quota... tbh, I knew it was going to be difficult to manage Campriani's retirement, but frankly I didn't expect such a vertical drop in our results (and our promising youngsters once again seem to have a lot of troubles with the transition from -relatively- successful juniors to just average seniors)...

2019 World Cup, Stage #4 (Beijing, CHN) Women's 10m Air Rifle Gold: Yulia Karimova Silver: Kwon Eun Ji Bronze: Keum Ji Hyeon Olympic Quota: Iran, Denmark

I'm quite disappointed...they don't even show the players (and, above all, all of their WAGS) under the post-game shower... p.s. being serious for a while...you can't even imagine how envious am I when I see the deep love for Hockey that the entire Slovak Nation has...why here in Italy 99.9% of the people don't even know what Hockey is?

Waterloo Ducks HC are the new European Club Champions! Waterloo Ducks in EHL heaven with remarkable 4-0 GRAND FINAL success in Eindhoven Grand Final: Waterloo Ducks 4, Rot Weiss Koln 0 Waterloo Ducks became the first Belgian club to win the Euro Hockey League as they put in a monumental defensive performance to beat 2017 champions Rot Weiss Koln to the crown. Second half goals from ABN AMRO Talent of the EHL William Ghislain, Gauthier Boccard, Max Bertrand and Quentin van Lierde saw them home but it owed a massive amount to Vincent Vanasch’s brilliance as the goalkeeper became one of a rare breed to win the EHL with two different clubs. Three of those goals came in the last two minutes when Rot Weiss swapped out their goalkeeper while the Ducks were on the back foot for most of the match before their late volley of goals. Captain John-John Dohmen said his side finally managed to put together the perfect run at the seventh attempt having only once reached the KO8 before this week. “We had never done a good campaign in the EHL,” he said. “It’s the first time we have shown our real level. Of course, we had to defend a lot because Rot Weiss were really good but that was part of the strategy, to defend hard with courage, and we showed a lot of character." It was lively right from the beginning as defender Kai Aichinger tore forward in the first phases to cause trouble while Pieter van Straaten and Renaud Pangrazio were buzzing up front for the Ducks. Vincent Vanasch made two outstanding saves with Jonas Gomoll testing the world goalkeeper of the year’s mettle. He was again brilliant early in the second half when Marco Miltkau’s under the arm pass was just chipped up at close quarters but Vanasch raised an arm to palm it away. Rot-Weiss had a goal disallowed when Eric Knobling’s shinpad deflected into the goal from Johannes Grosse’s upright reverse-stick cross. The video umpire came to their rescue that time. Then, against the run of play, Waterloo used their first real chance of note to set William Ghislain free on the right of the circle and he pumped the ball under Victor Aly for his second goal in two days. Waterloo began to fall into foul trouble with a series of green cards forcing them deeper and deeper in defence. Mats Grambusch was denied by the post and then smashed a volley into Vanasch’s pads from another big chance. The Ducks survived with nine men for a spell and then, as Rot Weiss took off Aly in favour of an extra attacker, Waterloo pounded. Pangrazio won a corner with less than three minutes to go and Gauthier Boccard showed no mercy to the unpadded masses to make it 2-0. Bertrand then profited from more Ghislain brilliance when he laid off the ball into the circle for the striker to add an extra golden moment. And there was even time left for van Lierde to score a fourth with one second left on the clock for an emphatic looking 4-0 scoreline. Game Details https://ehlhockey.tv/match/2018-19-grand-final/ Game Highlights https://www.eurohockeytv.org/video/waterloo-ducks-hc-v-rot-weiss-koln-match-highlights/1530808

2019 Asia-Pacific Championships, Final Medal Table JPN, 4 / 1 / 4 MGL, 3 / 2 / 3 KOR, 2 / 3 / 6 CHN, 2 / 1 / 3 KAZ, 1 / 2 / 3 UZB, 1 / 2 / 2 PRK, 1 / 0 / 1 TJK, 0 / 2 / 0 TPE, 0 / 1 / 0 AUS, 0 / 0 / 3 KGZ, 0 / 0 / 2 UAE, 0 / 0 / 1

Today's Medallists (Day #3, final) women's -78kg Gold: Mao Izumi Silver: Ma Zhenzhao Bronze: Lee Jeong Yun & Yoon Hyun Ji women's +78kg Gold: Kim Min Jeong Silver: Han Mi Jin Bronze: Wang Yan & Akari Inoue men's -90kg Gold: Kosuke Mashiyama Silver: Komronshokh Ustopiriyon Bronze: Bu Hebilige & Islam Bozbayev men's -100kg Gold: Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren Silver: Won Jong Hoon Bronze: Mukhammadkarim Khurramov & Kayhan Ozcicek-Takagi men's +100kg Gold: Kim Sung Min Silver: Temur Rakhimov Bronze: Kim Min Jong & Iurii Krakovetskii

Today's Medallists (Day #2) women's -63kg Gold: Yan Yunxia Silver: Gankhaich Bold Bronze: Katharina Haecker & Tang Jing women's -70kg Gold: Shiho Tanaka Silver: Gulnoza Matniyazova Bronze: Aoife Coughlan & You Je Young men's -73kg Gold: Tsogtbaatar Tsend-Ochir Silver: An Chang Rim Bronze: Victor Scvortov & Khikmatillokh Turaev men's -81kg Gold: Uuganbaatar Otgonbaatar Silver: Sharofiddin Boltaboev Bronze: Lee Sung Ho & Hikaru Tomokiyo

Hempel World Cup Series, Round #3 (Genua, ITA) Medallists Recap (Part #2) women's 470, Final Result Gold: Fernanda Oliveira & Ana Luiza Barbachan Silver: Wei Mengxi & Gao Haiyan Bronze: Benedetta Di Salle & Alessandra Dubbini men's 470 Gold: Paul Snow-Hansen & Daniel Willcox Silver: Xu Zangjun & Wang Chao Bronze: Kilian Wagen & Gregoire Siegwart women's Laser Radial Gold: Anne-Marie Rindom Silver: Zhang Dongshuang Bronze: Maud Jayet men's Laser Gold: Jonatan Vadnai Silver: Pavlos Kontides Bronze: Andrew Lewis men's Finn Gold: Jorge Zarif Silver: Alex Muscat Bronze: Joan Cardona Mendez Full Results: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/3da4c9de-e26e-4671-bb00-885c79a4cd47#!/results?classId=681a89b8-b15a-4932-b826-14252e4928fb

K1PL Stage #3 (Rabat, MAR) Final Medal Table TUR, 3 / 3 / 4 UKR, 3 / 1 / 0 JPN, 2 / 1 / 6 EGY, 1 / 2 / 1 IRI, 1 / 1 / 3 ITA, 1 / 0 / 1 KAZ, 1 / 0 / 1 CHN, 1 / 0 / 0 SUI, 1 / 0 / 0 RUS, 0 / 2 / 1 ESP, 0 / 2 / 1 MEX, 0 / 1 / 0 TPE, 0 / 1 / 0 MAR, 0 / 0 / 3 AUT, 0 / 0 / 1 AZE, 0 / 0 / 1 FRA, 0 / 0 / 1 GER, 0 / 0 / 1 GRE, 0 / 0 / 1 PHI, 0 / 0 / 1 UZB, 0 / 0 / 1