phelps

it's over... what a crazy day...first Italy win against SLO with just 2.3 secs to play and both teams having the empty net and then GBR scores the decisive goal with less than 16 seconds on the clock... my heart doesn't feel that good right now...

goal...goal...goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!! top division here we come!!!!!!!!

senseless and not effective power play...time's running short now...

c'mon! let's go! this is the chance...2 mins penalty against HUN...3 mins to go... I just can't believe it! shorthanded penalty shot for HUN...but Bowns save it!!!! yesss!!! it's now or never (another cit.) let's go guys!

yessssssss!!!!! GBR shorten the distance...9 mins left...c'mon, guys!!!!

12 mins to go...still HUN-GBR 2-0... and for Italy the Top Division seems so far awaaaayyyy (semi-cit.)

and it will be Finland against the pre-competition favourites USA for the Gold Medal... after FIN defeated SWE 2-0, infact, it was time for the US boys to dominate the Czechs by a score of 4-1... on the other side, Switzerland won also game #2 of the relegation playoff against France (6-0 the final score) and secured themselves a spot in the Top Division also for 2019...

really???

the World Cup is back, after the pause dedicated to the World Juniors... First weapon to get back on the pistes is the Women's Foil... and for Italy was one of the worst disaters in the most recent times...nobody on the podium, with the "big names" going worse than the second tier girls... curiously, we also had the same Gold and Bronze medallists of the previous WC stage in California... this is how it went in detail... Women's Individual Foil (Tauberbischofsheim, GER) Final Results: Gold: Inna Deriglazova (RUS) Silver: Jeon Hee Sook (KOR) Bronze: Leonie Ebert (GER) & Lee Kiefer (USA) Semifinals: Deriglazova b. Kiefer 15-10 Jeon b. Ebert 15-12 Gold Medal Match: Deriglazova b. Jeon 13-12 Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: http://fie.org/competitions/2018/122/results/rank

Final Medal Table http://www.ippon.org/eju_sen2018.php

Today's results Men's -90kg Gold: Mikhail Ikolnikov (RUS) Silver: Nemanja Majdov (SRB) Bronze: Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP) & Theodoros Tselidis (GRE) Men's -100kg Gold: Toma Nikiforov (BEL) Silver: Cyrille Maret (FRA) Bronze: Peter Paltchik (ISR) & Zelym Kotsoiev (AZE) Men's +100kg Gold: Lukas Krpalek (CZE) Silver: Tamerlan Bashaev (RUS) Bronze: Stephan Hegyi (AUT) & Henk Grol (NED) Women's -78kg Gold: Madeleine Malonga (FRA) Silver: Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA) Bronze: Anna Maria Wagner (GER) & Natalie Powell (GBR) Women's -78kg Gold: Romane Dicko (FRA) Silver: Larisa Ceric (BIH) Bronze: Yelyzaveta Kalanina (UKR) & Tessie Savelkouls (NED)

well, it was expected... however, at east we won a couple of medals after the shameful 0 of last year...even if I expected Basile to win the Gold medal here...and he lost to no one (with all respect for Ciloglu, who won Bronze at the end of the day)...

but you wrote both of our teams...and Gianlu33 is Italian!

no, it's ITA and GBR (if GBR makes at least 1 point tonight) or HUN and KAZ (if you win in regulation)...no 3rd option's given

I think we both blew it against GBR, who are not a good team as they might look from the results of this crazy tournament (and almost surely HUN is going to demonstrate it in the next hours)...

KAZ is definitely not promoted yet...they need HUN to win in regulation against GBR, otherwise it will be GBR and ITA to go to the Top Division (meanwhile if HUN win in regulation against GBR it will be HUN themselves and KAZ to earn the spots to the Top Division)...

this is not the first time I see something like that, but it's always surreal when both teams play without the goaltender... now, the dream of an unexpected promotion is still alive... but we must hope for GBR's help...we desperately need them to earn at least 1 point in the final match against Hungary, who, by their side, only have to win that game in regulation to be promoted to the Top Division... I guess it's gonna be quite an interesting match...

forelast event in Changwon...the women's skeet was won by the US veteran Kimberly Rhode, who also established a new world record for the final series (58/60)... Amber Hill (GBR) ended up in second place and Amber English (USA, despite her family name ) in third... only a disppointing 4th place for Italy thanks to Katiuscia Spada, with the "big guns" Chiara Cainero and Diana Bacosi already out in the qualifying stages (and not even close to the score they would have needed to make the final 6)... China always number #1 in the medal table with 4 Gold medals ahead of Russia with 3 and a bunch of other Countries stuck to just 1 Gold...

once again, this Italian team is trying to waste what they've brilliantly built... last night they made me feel ashamed of being Italian once again... I hope that today they will show something more than yesterday, but I'm very pessimistic...I really think they can't stand any sort of mental pressure...and today there will be a lot of that on the ice...

and finally Lugano's dream is over... the Zurich Lions win game #7 on the road with a score of 2-0 (first goal after just 3 minutes on a bad defensive mistake, second one an empty netter wuth only 19 seconds on the clock) and take the title home... Lugano didn't play their best hockey through the first 2 periods (they were too tired and probably they also did feel too much pressure for playing this decider at home), but tried everything they could in the 3rd period and only a miracle save by Zurich's goalie Lukas Flueler on a Hoffman shot with less than a minute to play allowed the Lions to avoid the OT... well deserved success for Zurich...but what a pity for those so brave Lugano players... so, all the European leagues are now over...time to focus on the World Champs and "time to say goodbye" (cit. Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman) for me... see you next Hockey season...

I'm back... last event for today...the men's -81kg class...Gold for the local man Sagi Muki (ISR), who won against Sami Chouchi (BEL)... Antonio Esposito (ITA) and Aslan Lappinagov (RUS) got the Bronze medals in this class... so, it's over for Today... Russia still on top of the medal table with 3 Gold medals, followed by 6 Nations with "only" 1 Gold...22 Countries in total have at least 1 medal... Tomorrow, the final day will be on stage with the men's -90kg, -100kg and +100kg and the women's -78kg and +78kg...

and now it's the Netherlands that take a Gold medal... Kim Polling, infact, wins the women's -70kg class (for the 4th time in 5 years ) in the Golden Score time by beating Sally Conway (GBR) in the final match (great fight, by the way)... Bronze medals in this class go to Gemma Howell (GBR) and Michaela Polleres (AUT)... p.s. and she could have been fighting for Italy, if only our federation was ready to give her the benefits she was asking for when she was in heavy dispute with the Dutch federation...

it was the forelast move before the match was stopped, when Heydarov started the attack, but Karapetian countered it and turned the Azeri on his side and got the second waza-ari, which means ippon according to the new rules (from the blind side view replay it's possible to see that Heydarov touches the ground with his hip and doesn't actually avoid the score...to be honest, I don't like that much this new rule which states that if you're turned around and touch the ground even with only a part of your side it's a score...I prefer the old one, when you had to put at least part of the back of your opponent on the ground to get a score)...

and surprise, surprise..Ferdinand Karapetian from Armenia wins the men's -73kg class, by beating Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan in the final match (ended with a very unsportsmanlike behaviour by the Azeri, refusing the final handshake by the Armenian)... Bronze medals in this class go to Bilal Ciloglu from Turkey (I don't know if this makes me more or less angry for Basile's loss this morning ) and Tommy Macias from Sweden...

first gold of the day goes to France, thanks to Clarisse Agbegnenou, who defeated Tina Trstenjak (SLO) in the final of the women's -63kg class... Bronze medals in this same category go to Martyna Trajdos (GER) and Lucy Renshall (GBR)...