phelps

World Grand Prix Finals Medallists Recap Women's -49kg Gold: Kim So-Hui Silver: Panipak Wongpattanakit Bronze: Sim Jae-Young Women's -57kg Gold: Lee Ah-Reum Silver: Nikita Glasnovic Bronze: Marta Calvo Gomez Women's -67kg Gold: Nur Tatar Askari Silver: Kim Jan-Di Bronze: Matea Jelic Women's +67kg Gold: Zheng Shuyin Silver: Bianca Walkden Bronze: Nafia Kus Men's -58kg Gold: Jang Jun Silver: Jesus Tortosa Cabrera Bronze: Vito Dell'Aquila Men's -68kg Gold: Lee Dae-Hoon Silver: Kim Seok-Bae Bronze: Lovre Brecic Men's -80kg Gold: Richard Andre Ordemann Silver: Maksim Khramtcov Bronze: Cheik Sallah Cissè Men's +80kg Gold: Vladislav Larin Silver: In Kyo-Don Bronze: Sajjad Mardani

crious to see how China have a finalist in each and every class from 64kg and above for a total of 5 girls still in contention... India, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine have 2 girls in the Gold Medal bouts and then a bunch of Nations with 1 single shot at the top honor... and the renovated AIBA tenure is well visible, as USA, Great Britain, Italy, France (among others) are already home before the final session (actually, we also have another really surprising "great absent" from the last act, the mighty Russia...and this is a big unexpected shocker)...

Italian moms back on track! the Algiers world cup stage will see Martina Batini and Elisa Di Francisca's return on the major circus after the long and "demanding" pause for maternity...

only if you trust that Dutch (with some Brazilian ties) troll... however, you're (partially) right...it's a 365 days/year sport (and in fact I wrote that it's my -second- favourite kind of entertainment overall, without putting the "winter" and "sport" limitation)... more than that...it's a lifestyle, it's philosophy...it's...Hockey!!!

c'mon, man! that's a no brainer...the real and only Hockey...all the way! (and not only among winter sports...and not only among sports in general, but all sort of entertaining activities -but one - included)...

now I'd like to be a graphologist...

Today our NOC announced the amount of money each National Federation would eventually get in 2019 (in total, we are just below 146 million €)... *=auxiliary federations

and what's next? FBI finally sending Rakhimov (and his acolytes) where he (they) deserve(s) to stay (in jail, of course)?

and after a 6-4 win vs POL, Italy is in the semifinals with 1 match still to be played! so far, we have a 6-2 record, we only lost to Sweden and Scotland (this one at the extra-end)...well done, guys!

after winning her battle against cancer, Elena Fanchini was supposed to make her return to the world cup... but while training on the same track where Lindsay Vonn injured herself, she also paid another tribute to bad luck...she broke her leg and a hand (and she also had a torn knee, but no ligament damage, it seems)... I'm so sad for her...she's been so unlucky in these last few years... p.s. Fanchini's injury actually happened the day before Vonn's...

naaa...it will be ITA, DEN, AUT and ROU...I'm pretty sure of that...

yes, I figured it out later, when I had already written that post...

she WAS the world champion...

Rink Hockey in the past tried to allow Catalunya to play the world champs as an established Country (they would be medal contender for sure, if not the main favourite in all the champs they would play), but then political pressure by Spain held them off... however, Catalunya have somehow recognized national teams in Rink Hockey, Handball, Basketball and Football (and the football team -as also Basque Country- until a few time ago used to play "official" International Friendlies)... Rink Hockey still let them play friendlies...

my "serious" picks... England to win the title FRA, GER, ESP and (shouldn't GBR take part into the Olympic tournament) BEL to qualify to the Tokyo Games... my hopes (well beyond any chance to become true)... Italy winning it all... AUT, BEL and SRB to fill the remaining Olympic spots... the teams I'd really like NOT to see in Tokyo... FRA, GER, ESP and GBR (if they are entitled to participate, which frankly at the moment I don't remember if it's possible or not)...

and Austria is in, too (thanks to another 1-0 win over Greece)... so, now we know all the 12 teams that will battle it out for the glory of the 2019 Euro Sub-21 title and for the Olympic spots reserved to Europe... those 12 teams are: Italy (Host Country) Croatia (Group 1 winners) Spain (Group 2 winners) Denmark (Group 3 winners) England (Group 4 winners) Germany (Group 5 winners, Title Holders) Belgium (Group 6 winners) Serbia (Group 7 winners) Romania (Group 8 winners) France (Group 9 winners) Austria (Play-offs) Poland (Play-offs) How does the draw work? The draw (Friday, Nov. 23rd, h.18.00 CET in Bologna, ITA) will split the 12 teams into three groups of four (A, B, C). Italy will be placed as team 1 in Group A, with the two best-ranked sides in the UEFA Under-21 national team coefficient rankings positioned as B1 and C1. The remainder of the pots and draw format will be confirmed once the qualifiers are known. How does the tournament work? Teams play each other once in the group, with the winners and the best runner-up advancing to the semi-finals, where it becomes a knockout competition. The tournament will also act as UEFA's qualifier for the 2020 men's Olympic football tournament in Japan. Knockout format Semi-final 1: Winner Group A v runner-up of Groups B or C or winner of Group C Semi-final 2: Winner Group B v runner-up of Group A or winner of Group C

well, I just watched this bout... and even if Petrova was clearly the best boxer of the 2, I wouldn't say it's such a scandal of a verdict... in round #1, they both did absolutely nothing...and Sonia was the one who got closer to land at least 1 or 2 jabs...so, I'd give this round to her, too... in round #2, it was only Petrova...she took control of the center of the ring and of the pace...and she landed a pair of good hits, too...I refuse to believe that a single judge gave this round to the Indian girl... in the last round, to me Sonia didn't do anything good enough to earn the call, despite Petrova not being aggressive enough, too...but no way a fair judgment could go in her direction... however, Petrova was indeed too arrogant and "lazy"...I didn't like her attitude at all and I understand all those who might favor the Indian girl in a tight call because of that...but still, to me this is another wrong and unfair result, after all... p.s. how biased are those commentators? I understand the colour commentator being part in the cause, but the play-by-play...he's definitely not and Indian voice, but still he's saying a lot of bullsh*t and all of them always in the same direction...

EU Boxing Championships 2018 (Valladolid, ESP) Medallists Recap -49kg Gold: Federico Emilio Serra Silver: Sakhil Allakhverdovi Bronze: Martin Molina Salvador & Jakoub Slominski -52kg Gold: Gabriel Escobar Mascucano Silver: William Thomas Francis Cawley Bronze: Nodari Darbaidze & Tinko Rosenov Banabakov -56kg Gold: Kurt Anthony James Walker Silver: Peter McGrail Bronze: Artyush Gomtsyan & Jordan Rodriguez -60kg Gold: Sofiane Oumiha Silver: Calum French Bronze: Radomir Obrusniak & Francesco Maietta -64kg Gold: Luke McCormack Silver: Paolo Di Lernia Bronze: Dimitri Galagot & Frederik Lundgaard Jensen -69kg Gold: Pat McCormack Silver: Youba Sissokho Ndiaye Bronze: Kieran Molloy & Filip Wachala -75kg Gold: Andrej Csemez Silver: Carl Fail Bronze: Victor Carapcevschii & Salvatore Cavallaro -81kg Gold: Benjamin Whittaker Silver: Andrei Aradoie Bronze: Matus Strnisko & Gaetan Ntambwe -91kg Gold: Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine Silver: Toni Filipi Bronze: Cheavon Clarke & Cristian Filip +91kg Gold: Frazer Edward Clarke Silver: Petar Rumenov Belberov Bronze: Marko Milun & Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui Final Medal Table ENG, 4 / 4 / 1 ITA, 2 / 1 / 2 ESP, 1 / 1 / 2 FRA, 1 / 0 / 2 IRL, 1 / 0 / 1 SVK, 1 / 0 / 1 GEO, 0 / 1 / 2 BUL, 0 / 1 / 1 CRO, 0 / 1 / 1 ROU, 0 / 1 / 1 POL, 0 / 0 / 3 MDA, 0 / 0 / 2 DEN, 0 / 0 / 1

she's a (former) Muay Thai star (35 wins, 3 losses -among those, her last fight in this discipline- and 1 draw...most of her wins by KO)... now she's trying with boxing because she wants an Olympic medal (but I fear she's done this move a bit late )... by the way, after destroying the youth world champion (so, basically a baby girl, who couldn't manage Betrian's strenght and power, rather than her boxing skills), in the next round she's going to fight against the reigning senior world champion, Alessia Mesiano, who earlier today won a very difficult match against probably her toughest rival in this half of the draw sheet, Michaela Walsh... we'll see in the next couple of days if Betrian is for real also in this sport...

Dutch grand Prix in The Hague has just finished... and this week Russia and Ukraine are the big winners with 2 Gold Medals each... then we have good 10 Countries with 1 Gold Medal: BLR, BEL, BUL, CHN, GEO, GBR, ISR, JPN, MGL and SRB... nicest result of the week... Cameroon winning their (I think ) first medal (Silver in the women's +78kg class) in a European stage of Grand Prix, thanks to Hortence Vanessa Mballa Atangana... Full Results here: https://live.ijf.org/gp_ned2018/results

Men's Team Sabre (Algiers, ALG) Final Results Gold: South Korea Silver: Russia Bronze: Germany Semifinals: South Korea b. Germany 45-40 Russia b. Italy 45-43 Bronze Medal Match: Germany b. Italy 45-44 Gold Medal Match: South Korea b. Russia 45-31 Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: http://fie.org/competitions/2019/759/results/rank

2018 World Sub-23 Wrestling Championships Overall Final Medal Table JPN, 9 / 2 / 2 GEO, 6 / 1 / 2 RUS, 3 / 7 / 8 TUR, 2 / 2 / 3 AZE, 1 / 4 / 2 CHN, 1 / 2 / 3 UKR, 1 / 1 / 6 MDA, 1 / 1 / 1 CUB, 1 / 1 / 0 IRI, 1 / 0 / 8 EGY, 1 / 0 / 1 CAN, 1 / 0 / 0 NOR, 1 / 0 / 0 SVK, 1 / 0 / 0 ROU, 0 / 3 / 5 USA, 0 / 3 / 2 HUN, 0 / 1 / 2 DEN, 0 / 1 / 0 IND, 0 / 1 / 0 KAZ, 0 / 0 / 5 MGL, 0 / 0 / 4 BLR, 0 / 0 / 2 GER, 0 / 0 / 2 KGZ, 0 / 0 / 1 TKM, 0 / 0 / 1

Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling Final Medal Table GEO, 3 / 1 / 1 JPN, 2 / 0 / 0 RUS, 1 / 1 / 2 TUR, 1 / 1 / 2 MDA, 1 / 1 / 0 EGY, 1 / 0 / 1 UKR, 1 / 0 / 1 AZE, 0 / 2 / 1 HUN, 0 / 1 / 2 ROU, 0 / 1 / 1 CUB, 0 / 1 / 0 DEN, 0 / 1 / 0 IRI, 0 / 0 / 4 BLR, 0 / 0 / 2 KAZ, 0 / 0 / 2 KGZ, 0 / 0 / 1 Women's Wrestling Final Medal Table JPN, 5 / 2 / 1 CHN, 1 / 2 / 1 TUR, 1 / 1 / 0 CAN, 1 / 0 / 0 CUB, 1 / 0 / 0 NOR, 1 / 0 / 0 RUS, 0 / 2 / 3 UKR, 0 / 1 / 3 ROU, 0 / 1 / 2 AZE, 0 / 1 / 0 KAZ, 0 / 0 / 3 MGL, 0 / 0 / 3 GER, 0 / 0 / 2 USA, 0 / 0 / 2 Men's Freestyle Wrestling Final Medal Table GEO, 3 / 0 / 1 RUS, 2 / 4 / 3 JPN, 2 / 0 / 1 AZE, 1 / 1 / 1 IRI, 1 / 0 / 4 SVK, 1 / 0 / 0 USA, 0 / 3 / 0 ROU, 0 / 1 / 2 IND, 0 / 1 / 0 CHN, 0 / 0 / 2 UKR, 0 / 0 / 2 MDA, 0 / 0 / 1 MGL, 0 / 0 / 1 TUR, 0 / 0 / 1 TKM, 0 / 0 / 1

Today's Medallists (Men's Freestyle Wrestling) -61kg Gold: Magomedrasul Idrisov Silver: Sean Christian Fausz Bronze: Nikolai Okhlokpov & Lu Minghu -74kg Gold: Avtandil Kentchadze Silver: Maxim Vasilioglo Bronze: Timur Bizhoev & Navid Zanganeh -86kg Gold: Kamran Ghasempour Silver: Artur Naifonov Bronze: Gankhuyag Ganbaatar & Murad Suleymanov -92kg Gold: Shamil Zubairov Silver: Aslanbek Sotiev Bronze: Bohdan Hrytsay & Hossein Shahbaz -125kg Gold: Said Gamidov Silver: Youssif Ibrahim Hemida Bronze: Amin Taheri & Rolandi Andriadze

Men's Individual Sabre (Algiers, ALG) Final Results Gold: Ha Han Sol Silver: Luigi Samele Bronze: Enrico Berrè & Oh Sanguk Semifinals: Samele b. Berrè 15-13 Ha b. Ho 15-10 Gold Medal Match: Ha b. Samele 15-9 Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: http://fie.org/competitions/2019/164/results/rank