phelps

and the Turkish curse strikes again! after throwing away an almost sure Gold in the women's team compound final against Turkey, Italy repeat themselves in the team recurve Gold medal match...and lose again to the Turkish girls!

and in the Baseball Gold medal match, Japan lost to Korea once again... 3-0 for the Koreans the final score of today's match (with the result basically decided after the 1st inning, when KOR scored 2 of their 3 runs)...

nice to read that... good way to face adversity...

results from this morning's final matches women's team compound Gold Medal match: Turkey b. Italy 227-227 (shoot-off: 30-28) men's team compound Gold Medal match: Great Britain b. France 230-229 mixed team compound Gold Medal match: France b. Netherlands 157-153 women's individual compound Bronze Medal match: Tanja Jensen b. Sophie Dodemont 146-144 women's individual compound Gold Medal match: Andrea Marcos b. Yesim Bostan 146-144 men's individual compound Bronze Medal match: Federico Pagnoni b. Pierre-Julien Deloche 149-144 men's individual compound Gold Medal match: Anton Bulaev b. Sergio Pagni 147-145

at least he can say he's very consistent... I feel sorry for him...it must be quite painful (even if in life there's surely something worse than being always a runner-up in a sport event)...

2018 Individual European Championships Men's Finals (Today @ 2 & 4 p.m. CET) Bronze Medal Match: Raphael Kandra vs Lucas Serme Gold Medal Match: Borja Golàn vs George Parker Women's Finals (Today @ 1 & 3 p.m. CET) Bronze Medal Match: Nele Gilis vs Tinne Gilis Gold Medal Match: Coline Aumard vs Millie Tomlinson

2018 Individual European Championships Men's Semifinals Results George Parker b. Raphael Kandra 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-4) Borja Golàn b. Lucas Serme 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-7) Women's Semifinals Results Millie Tomlinson b. Tinne Gilis 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-5) Coline Aumard b. Nele Gilis 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8)

and 8 in the shoot-off...more than a disaster...

and Today's the day... at 4 p.m. CET, in fact, the KHL season gets underway in the Tatarstan Capital with the opening match between the reigning Champions, AK Bars Kazan and SKA St.Petersburg... https://video.khl.ru/events/759749?locale=en

I just can't believe Bolzano/Bozen Foxies last night beat Skelleftea... great result for the poor Italian Hockey (if we can consider the South Tyroleans part of our Hockey system )... finally, this year they are "ready" since the beginning of the season...and not just by January/February as their usual...

and Turkey win the first gold (women's team compound)... but Italy...how to literally throw a gold medal in...well, you know where...

Yay!!! Pencak Silat at the Olympic Games!!! I just can't wait for that... should I get sick (sgrat...sgrat...), they just gave me a reason to fight against anything and try to get fully healty by that time...

in these last days of Summer, I'm watching Power (season #5) and Snowfall (season #2)... about Power, I love the "Ghost" character and the girls appearing in the cast, even if acting is not the forte of the series (and 50 Cent as an actor...meh )... meanwhile I like the stories narrated in Snowfall and the general atmosphere of the series...

be serious...once every while... this is NOT the entry list...this is the MEDAL table... if they have no medals, how can we put them in the "medal table"??? p.s. now KAZ is ahead of IND

oh, c'mon! that's an epic mess... it was so easy until last time with continental champs (and runner-up if the hosts won the continental title) + 2/3 global qualification tournaments (name it like you want...OQT, world league, pro league...whatever you wake up with)... by the way, I'm done...I refuse to lose my mind behind a bunch od idiots with perverted minds...

Final Medal Table RUS, 6 / 5 / 2 USA, 3 / 0 / 1 KAZ, 2 / 6 / 3 IND, 2 / 2 / 6 THA, 2 / 1 / 4 ENG, 2 / 1 / 3 UZB, 1 / 0 / 2 CUB, 1 / 0 / 1 CAN, 1 / 0 / 0 UKR, 0 / 1 / 3 HUN, 0 / 1 / 1 CRO, 0 / 1 / 0 FRA, 0 / 1 / 0 PUR, 0 / 1 / 0 BRA, 0 / 0 / 2 EGY, 0 / 0 / 2 JPN, 0 / 0 / 2 ALG, 0 / 0 / 1 BLR, 0 / 0 / 1 GER, 0 / 0 / 1 JOR, 0 / 0 / 1 IRL, 0 / 0 / 1 PHI, 0 / 0 / 1 TUR, 0 / 0 / 1 N.B. the total number of Bronze Medals is "only" 39 (instead of the usual 40) because in the Women's +81kg class just 3 fighters were at the start of the competition

looking at that a bit closer, I think you're right...basically, Japan is the Asian qualifier (as if the host Nation wasn't granted a spot)...then we have the remaining 4 Continental champs (3 if RSA win and then refuse the African spot) and 7 (8 if Africa don't use their spot) play-off matches... I guess now we've figured it out... thanks...

I don't agree at all...fighting is exciting, kata is soooo boring (and the biased judging is a problem for all the events in Karate, even worse than in Boxing)...

The 2018 edition of the AIBA Youth World Championships come to a close after crowning the last 10 World Champions Men’s Fly (52kg) One of the biggest surprises of the event came on today’s first bout with USA’s Asa Stevens defeating Ivan Hope, one of the most talented English Youth boxers. After three thrilling rounds, it was the tactic from the United States team which got more credit granting the World Champion title to Asa Stevens. Asa STEVENS b. Ivan PRICE by PTS (5-0) Men’s Light (60kg) Atichai Phoemsap is the new Light Youth World Champion, the Thailand‘s hand raised after three breathtaking rounds against Hungary’s hope Adrian Orban in Budapest. It was a typically flamboyant display by Phoemsap with a lightning-fast start from two brilliant boxers using the whole of the ring to deliver their craft. Ultimately, it was Phoemsap’s nimble attacks that saw the Thai clinching the second gold medal for his country. Atichai PHOEMSAP b. Adrián Krisztofer ORBÁN by PTS (3-2) Men’s Welter (69kg) Russia’s EUBC European Youth Champion Dzhambulat Bizhamov and Kazakhstan’s ASBC Asian Youth Champion Yermakhan Zhakpekov faced each other in a dreamed final at the men’s welterweight (69kg). The 18-year-old Russian boxer used his longer reach to took early advantage on the first round. The Kazakh reaction wasn’t enough to get the score board back on his favor, and Bizhamov was awarded with a split decision to become World Champion. Dzhambulat BIZHAMOV b. Yermakhan ZHAKPEKOV by PTS (4-1) Men’s Light Heavy (81kg) The second final between Kazakhstan and Russia was held at the men’s light heavyweight (81kg) where two-time EUBC European Youth Champion Ruslan Kolesnikov and ASBC Asian Youth Champion Sagyndyk Togambay stepped on the ring on pursuit of the Youth glory. And it was Russia’s Ruslan Kolesnikov who produced the best performance of the bout to clinch the gold medal. Ruslan KOLESNIKOV b. Sagyndyk TOGAMBAY by PTS (4-1) Men’s Super Heavy (91+kg) Russia’s Aleksei Dronov and Kazakhstan’s Damir Toibay then took to the ring for the Super Heavyweight Final. The Russian boxer stamina completely surprised Toibay who received a strong punishment on the first moments of the bout. The power of Dronov was too much for the referee who stopped the bout to protect the Kazakh boxer after being counted twice in round one. Aleksei DRONOV b. Damir TOIBAY RSC R.1 (1:06) Women’s Fly (51kg) USA’s Heaven Garcia and India’s Anamika produced one of the moments to remember at the Duna Arena. The performance of the two young boxers was excellent making the final decision very difficult for the judges. But it was the experience of the AMBC American Youth Continental Championships champion the one which prevailed, and Heaven Garcia became World Champion. Heaven Destiny GARCIA b. ANAMIKA by PTS (4-1) Women’s Feather (57kg) Sakshi Ghanghas list of achievements is as impressive as her way of boxing. The Youth Indian added a third gold medal at her World Championships collection by defeating the talented Nikolina Cacic from Croatia at the Duna Arena. Ghanghas is now two-times Youth World Champion and Junior Champion. SAKSHI b. Nikolina CACIC RSC R.3 (1:00) Women’s Light Welter (64kg) A brilliant Women’s Light Welterweight Final unravelled between India’s Manisha and England’s Gemma Richardson, two technically excellent boxers who clearly thrived on the big stage as they delivered three rounds of pure entertainment. Richardson has truly found her space, and despite Manisha’s incredible evasive manoeuvres, it was the English who found the perfect range and rhythm to deliver herself a richly deserved gold. Gemma Paige RICHARDSON b. MANISHA by PTS (5-0) Women’s Middle (75kg) France’s Tallya Brillaux and Russia’s Anstasiia Shamanova then put on a Women’s Middleweight (75kg) masterclass for the crowds, the Russian’s relentless attacks gradually taking their toll on Brillaux. With the French never allowed to settle into a groove long enough to mount a challenge, it was Shamanova’s hand that was raised as World Champion. Anastasiia SHAMONOVA b. Tallya BRILLAUX by PTS (5-0) Women’s Heavy (+81kg) The Kazakh and Ukraine teams then returned to their respective corners for the last bout of the event in Budapest as Dina Islambekova of Kazakhstan and Ukraine’s Mariia Lovchynska came into the ring to box for the Women’s Heavyweight World title. Islambekova looked to dominate the centre of the ring and control the bout, with Lovchynska content to launch rapid counters when the rare opportunity presented itself. The openings became fewer as the Kazakh seized the initiative, and it was a win on points decision that eventually took Islambekova to gold. Dina ISLAMBEKOVA b. Mariia LOVCHYNSKA by PTS (4-1)

and finally Japan won 5-0 against TPE and joined KOR in the (men's) Baseball Gold Medal match (tomorrow @ 4 p.m. local time)...

meh... it would have been better not to have Kata at all and have all the 5 individual Kumite weight classes (and with a lot more than just 10 starters...imho, 32 per class would have been the right choice...but, as the IOC doesn't care about the level of their Olympic competitions, 16 could also have been a good number...10 is definitely a farce)...

vii) If Japan is the winner of the 18th Asian Games (Women’s Hockey competition) 2018, their place will be taken by the next highest ranked team in the FIH World Ranking at the end of the 2019 Continental Championships. In this case there will be seven (7) qualifying events and the additional place will be allocated to the next highest ranked team in the FIH World Rankings as at the end of the 2019 Continental Championships not qualified. viii) In the event that paragraph vii) above happens, the 14 teams that have qualified will be drawn to play another of the teams over two (2) matches. The overall winners of the two (2) matches will qualify for the Olympic Games. I think it's well clear...the best Asian team in the WR after the 2019 Continental Champs will be directly qualified to the Olympic Games and we're gonna have "only" 7 play-offs pairings... to answer why RSA always try to keep the number of their Olympic participants as low as they can, it's just above money...$$$ their NOC has limited funding and they don't want to waste big money in athletes going to the Games just to make the not-paying tourists (which is always the case for most of the African qualification winners in many sports, especially the team sports)...

Taipei's on theverge of losing the chance to play for Gold even if they beat KOR earlier (they pay the prize of not having thrashed CHN and Koreas's half-surprising win over JPN)... the game's not over, but they are down 3-0 and in a difficult situation in the 7th inning against JPN... because of the strange tie-breaking criteria in international round robin baseball, their only chance is getting a W today, which isn't likely to happen at the moment...

since there was no medal race (normally the final ranking of the medal race is the tie-breaker), in cases like this the best position goes to the highest number of wins in the single races (and then the highest number of second places and so on)... in this case (Men's Laser), MAS has 4 wins in the 12 races and SGP only 3...therefore, MAS earned the Olympic spot...

the Kunlun Red Star...they play their matches half in Beijing and half in Shanghai...and in both sites they don't have more than 1,000 spectators per game (and in Beijing they normally play in the big hall used for Gymnastics at the 2008 Games)... of course I didn't mean they literally play in the desert, but that it's like if they did it (since they always play in those big empty arenas)... p.s. last year they also played a warm-up match in Ulan Baatar (MGL), which is not so different than playing in the desert (even if they had more spectators in that match than in their actual home games)...