phelps

Recap of the finals... Women's Finals -48Kg Beschastnova RUS vs Moorehouse IRL 1-4 -51Kg Stoeva BUL vs La Piana ITA 0-5 -54Kg Guldagi TUR vs Tessari ITA 2-3 -57Kg Triebelova SVK vs Dearbhla IRL 5-0 -60Kg Asatarian RUS vs Dubois ENG 0-5 -64Kg Igharo IRL vs Richardson ENG 0-5 -69Kg Kabakova RUS vs Borys POL 1-4 -75Kg Selaj ALB vs Shamanova RUS 0-5 -81Kg Rybak RUS vs Makhno UKR 1-4 +81Kg Lovchinska UKR vs Dzianisava BLR 5-0 Men's Finals -49Kg Batyay RUS vs Bernath HUN 0-5 -52Kg Price ENG vs Clancy IRL 5-0 -56Kg Oggiano ITA vs Halinichev UKR 1-4 -60Kg Safarov AZE vs Bondarchuck UKR 3-2 -64Kg Azim ENG vs Popov RUS Wins RSC (Round #2) -69Kg Hasanov AZE vs Bizhamov RUS 0-5 -75Kg Millas ITA vs Teterev RUS 3-2 -81Kg Kolesnikov RUS vs Itauma ENG 5-0 -91Kg Fiaschetti ITA vs Fedorov RUS Wins by WO +91 Kg Kshavitski BLR vs Dronov RUS ?

http://www.eubcboxing.org/news/day-1-56th-belgrade-winner-results-day-2-schedule/

I just can't believe what I've seen earlier today... Italy played the best and most effective game in the last 10 years and dominated KAZ from start to finish...sometimes they even looked like a real top class team...sustained pressure over KAZ defence, many shots on goal, tough defence by themselves, super-solid goaltending by Bernard (he definitely made up for the sloppy performance against HUn a couple of days ago)... Now we're really in line for earning an unexpected promotion to the Top Division...let's hope that we don't waste it all with another night off in the last 2 games, as I don't think that GBR and this Slovenian team are actually better than this Italian team...

I watched that game...and it was quite obvious from the early stages that it was going into BB's direction... the first period was very tactical, but BB did control the pace and did have the most shots on goal... in the second period, DT did have a flashy start and even took the lead with a quick counter by Bezuch, but BB's line with the French-Canadian duo Faille/Asselin (with the participation of local big boy Hrnka) immediately tied the game and in a few seconds Pavol Skalicky turned things around... in the 3rd period DT tried to give their best, but they never got very close to the 2nd goal and when Asselin scored BB's 3rd goal it was all over for the red and yellow guys... the final 2 scores by Faille and Skalicky (nice double for both guys) were just cosmetics... to be honest, I expected a lot more from DT...but it was clear from the beginning of the match that they haven't been able to set down their nerves before this decider on one side and that they were physically empty after the great comeback from 0-3 to 3-3 in the final series on the other side... and after the well deserved celebration of Banskà Bystrica's success, we also have to remember the other 2 games played yesterday in the Finnish and German leagues' finals. in both cases, anyway, the title wasn't won by the teams that could have closed the series... in the 5th game of the Liiga finals, infact, Tappara Tampere won a crazy match on the ice of Kärpät Oulu by a score of 5-4 and shortened the distance in the series to 2-3. Now they will play game #6 at home tomorrow, with a good chance to send the finals to the decisive game #7 (if needed, next Saturday in Oulu). meanwhile in Germany, Eisbären Berlin did take advantage of the home building and won game #6 of the DEL finals against Red Bull Munich (5-3 the score from yesterday night), thus forcing another potentially spectacular game #7, which is scheduled for tomorrow (h.19.00 CET) in Munich. as they say, "not to be missed"... Finally, I also have to mention tonight's game #6 of the Swiss NLA Finals between Zurich Lions and HC Lugano. Puck drop at 20.15 CET, with the Lions leading the series 3-2, just one win short of the title. We'll write about it tomorrow...

and finally some satisfaction also for Italy... Mauro De Filippi wins the men's Trap competition ahead of Jiri Liptak (CZE) after a very solid second part of the final series... eventually, "only" 3rd, 4th and 5th place for the Turkish guys... so, now we are in the medal table, too...

wow! 3 Turkish guys in the final of the men's Trap in Changwon (the same venue that will host the World Champs later this year)...I think this is the first time ever... however, in this second stage of the World Cup (for both Rifle & Pistol and Shotgun shooting), so far we have Russia and China on top of the medal table with 2 Gold medals each, followed by Australia and Finland with 1 Gold medal... many other Countries have made the medal table, but with no Gold... for Italy, one disapponting performance after the other...

I'm not saying that we don't have any chance anymore...but, after watching the first 2 games, I still think that we're not consistent enough (and we've got not enough talent, too...especially on offense) to look for promotion...better stay focused on the primary target (save a place in Div.IA)... moreover, against KAZ we have an awful tradition, we've never won against them in an official match (only in friendlies, like a few days ago just before the start of this tournament..actually, last week we lost 1 game and then we won the re-match against them)... we'll see...but I can't be optimistic, especially after tonight...

as promised, just a quick update after game #4 of Liiga's Finals... earlier today, infact, Tappara Tampere did take advantage of the home ice (they won 2-0) and shortened the distance to 3 games to 1 (always in favor of Kärpät Oulu) in the final series. Game #5 is schedule for Tomorrow in Oulu (18.30 local time, 17.30 CET). Tomorrow (h.19.00 CET) will be played also the 6th game of the German DEL Finals in Berlin (with the local team down 3-2 against Red Bull Munich in the series) and, above all, it's the "big day" in the Slovak league, where Dukla Trencin (h.18.00 CET) will try to complete an epic comeback (they were down 3-0, now they're tied 3-3) at home against Banskà Bystrica. I just can't wait to watch that match...I love game 7s sooo muuuch!... see you soon...

unfortunately, I watched only parts of that match... and of course things might have gone quite different than suggested by the final score...but still, I don't think that Hungary are even close to the team they were 2 or 3 years ago... however, tonight I have to eat my own words about Italy and their backcourt...they played very bad on defence and Bernard (supposed to be our superstar, after the great season he had in the top Finnish league) wasn't at all the good goalie we always need to come up with some points (meanwhile we did show once again all of our offensive troubles...there's just no talent enough in our players)... this means that we can immediately stop dreaming of an unexpected promotion and get back thinking about how we can save our a**... in any case, congrats to HUN for taking advantage of all the favourable circumstances of tonight's match and getting a not undeserved win... p.s. I'm really curious to see how this tournament develops in the next few days...we've already had some really unexpected results...and I think we're far from being over in that sense...

no, c'mon! wins against POL and GBR should be a must...maybe even against this SLO and this HUN... the only match I'd call "unexpected" if we get it, it's the one against KAZ... however, we have, like always, an awful power play special team...and scoring is always a problem, too...we really lack 1 or 2 snipers as hell... meanwhile we have good goaltending and decent defence (even if I want to see them when they're really under pressure, before confirming this impression)...

I wouldn't call this result "big"... c'mon! it's only a small region with just over 300.000 people (and only 52% of those who could, went to express their vote)... especially, I like when newspapers and TV stations say the FI has more votes than Lega...but did they see where Molise is on the Italian chart? Did ever Lega got some significant results below the Po line (or close to that, let's consider Emilia Romagna too)? meh... I don't really understand those who can consider this small caliber local elections a sign of what's gonna be the whole Country next development (however, we're gonna be in the middle of a new big show in the next few weeks, since it's obvious that we're gonna vote again soon...and with this voting system we're going to not have a serious government once again, even if we repeat the elections 100 times in the next 10 years)...

Curiously, in both men and women's bouldering we have the same one-two on the podium, but in reverse order... more in general, the Japanese/Slovenian domination continues, uncontested... meanwhile in the first speed event of the season, France and Iran win among women and men respectively, with the men's event that sees the surprising explosion of the Indonesian specialists, literally coming out from nowhere... good team result, despite no gold medals, for the hosts... in the men's speed, disappointing performance by the Italian guys, despite the very high expectations...

IFSC World Cup, Stage #2 (Moscow, RUS) Women's Boulder 1st, Janja Garnbret (SLO) 2nd, Miho Nonaka (JPN) 3rd, Akiyo Noguchi (JPN) Men's Boulder 1st, Tomoa Narasaki (JPN) 2nd, Jernej Kruder (SLO) 3rd, Gregor Vezonik (SLO) Women's Speed 1st, Anouk Jaubert (FRA) 2nd, Iuliia Kaplina (RUS) 3rd, Elena Timofeeva (RUS) Men's Speed 1st, Reza Alipoushenadzandifar (IRI) 2nd, Vladislav Deulin (RUS) 3rd, Veddriq Leonardo (INA)

but also a lot more effective financial punishment...in the other sports they're only going to miss out on prize money, here they're stripped a good part of their salary... maybe I'm a little bit too focus on money, but I find that taking away some money from them, it's a more effective disincentive to use this kind of stuff than just stopping them from taking part in official competitions (but not in non competitive shows, which grant those athletes a lot of money anyway) for 1 or 2 years (which nowadays is almost nothing, with sports careers having become a lot longer than in the past)...

definitely 15 and 16 well above the rest... then a bit of 1, 6, 8 and 12...rarely 4... anything else...no, thanks...

It's still a quarter of a season (and with their rules, a quarter of their official salary) gone for them... I agree with @Quasit on pool billiards...

and here we go with today's final update... In the Czech Republic, Kometa Brno successfully defend their title, winning game #5 against Ocelari Trinec on the road by a score of 4-1, the same result of the Extraliga final series... In Slovakia, instead, we're just looking at an improbable comeback by Dukla Trencin, who were down 3-0 in the series against Banskà Bystrica, but now are tied 3-3, after winning game #6 (this time really in Banskà Bystrica ) by a score of 3-2. The decisive game #7 is scheduled for next Tuesday in Trencin (h.18.00 CET). see U tomorrow, after Liiga's game #4...

and it's celebration day in Sweden and Russia... in the SHL, Växjö Lakers won the 4th game in a row against Skellefteå (5-0 on the road, today) and swept the Finals 4-0. Elias Pettersson (not even 20 years young) was the eponymous of this playoffs, earning both the scoring title and the Finals' MVP prize. On the other side, the KHL ended with the surprising win of AK Bars Kazan, who won today's game #5 on their home ice 1-0 and conquered the Gagarin Cup with a 4-1 series score against the big favourites, CSKA Moscow. In Germany, on the contrary, Red Bull Munich missed the first "match point" at home, losing game #5 of the DEL Finals against Eisbären Berlin by a score of 6-5 (after OT). However, they still lead the series 3-2. More about Czech and Slovak leagues, later...

Czech/Slovak TV (skylink bouquet on satellite @ 23.5 east degrees)... I have an official subscrition to that package (as I wrote many times, I'm addicted to Ice Hockey, so I do everything I can to watch as many games as possible -and if only I could subscribe to the Swedish and Finnish channels...)...

Yesterday, Lugano shortened the distance in the Swiss NLA Finals by winning game #5 at home with a stunning 4-0, dominating this match from start to finish. Zurich now lead the series "only" 3-2, but they will have the big chance to close the quest for the title at home on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, in the SHL and in the Finnish Liiga we're heading towards a very quick ending of their respective Finals. Växjö Lakers HC (SHL) and Kärpät Oulu (Liiga), infact, won again in game #3 against Skellefteå (4-1) and Tappara (2-1 OT) respectively and now lead their series both by 3-0. Today (SHL) and Tomorrow (Liiga) it could already be all over after game #4 in both leagues. Today there are also a lot of other games of the final series in many Countries, like Germany (game #5 between Berlin and Munich, with the Bavarians leading 3-1), Czech Republic (game #5 between Brno and Trinec, with Kometa leading 3-1), Slovakia (game #6 between Banskà Bystrica and Dukla Trencin, with the firsts leading 3-2) and the KHL (game #5 between AK Bars Kazan and CSKA Moscow, with the team from Tatarstan leading 3-1)...

surprise, surprise...no Italy at all (not that it's something unexpected, though)... nice that I can watch 3 of the 5 games of the Italian team on Sport1 HD (the remaining 2 are streamed by IIHF in any case, which should be more than enough)...

Happy Birthday to you... but I guess you should add about 10 (9 1/2, better) years to your age to get as old as I am... and yes...my hair and my beard are starting to show signs of how heavy are those years...

Ice Hockey, Ice Hockey and Ice Hockey again... right now...Czech Hockey Games (CZE vs SWE) and SHL (Växjö Lakers-Skellefteå, game #3) live... later this afternoon...NHL, one of last night's games (I don't know which one, yet) on-demand... tonight...Swiss NLA (Lugano-Zurich Lions, game #5) and NHL (Columbus Blue Jackets @ Washington Capitals, game #5 and/or New Jersey Devils @ Tampa Bay Lightning, game #5) live...

yes, you're right...my mistake (unfortunately I was lost between KHL and EBEL finals, so I didn't watch that game and I misread the scoring line on the website)... meanwhile right now I'm in between the SHL on ArenaSport1 (why don't they put this channel -and his "brother" AS2, which I can't understand why it's not on the skylink platform, when the #1 is there since ages- in HD like all the others? it's almost unwatchable on my brand new 4K TV...) and the Czech Hockey Games on CT Sport HD...

after yesterday's HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxies success in the EBEL, tomorrow it's time for the Italian National team to kill the happiness of the Italian Hockey fans... Division IA starts with an interesting lineup (SLO, KAZ, HUN, POL, ITA & GBR) and our perspective should be to save our a**, rather than hoping for a non predictable promotion... Our first game is against Poland (h.19.30 CET, live streaming, as for the entire tournament, on the IIHF page on Youtube) and it could prove already decisive for our championship...a loss, infact, would probably mean that we're going to play for the 5th spot against GBR and nothing more... and looking at our team, I just can't be optimistic...