phelps

typical from Gaspari...when it really matters, she doesn't understand anything anymore...

and I'm pretty sure that even tomorrow against Denmark they will do something stupid sooner or later, so to lose this giant chance they have to earn the first ever qualification to the Games for Italy (we only participated in Torino 2006 as hosts, if I remember correctly)...

European Championships for the Olympic weight classes

Day #2 podium places:

Women's -49kg

Gold: Svetlana Igumenova (RUS)

Silver: Ela Aydin (GER)

Bronze: Viktoriya Bashkirova (RUS) and Iryna Romoldanova (UKR)

Men's -68kg

Gold: Arman Irgaliev (RUS)

Silver: Vladimir Dalakliev (BUL)

Bronze: Viacheslav Minin (RUS) and Ali Radwan (BLR)

Men's -80kg

Gold: Albert Gaun (RUS)

Silver: Julio Ferreira (POR)

Bronze: Karol Holubowicz (POL) and Aurimas Klemas (LTU)

Italy and China (both ending the round robin phase with a 5-1 record) will play for the first Olympic spot tonight at 7 p.m. CET...

the losers will have another chance in the last repechage round against Denmark (4-2 their record in the round robin phase) tomorrow (noon CET)...

c'mon, girls!!!

30 minutes ago, dcro said:

Looks like will advance to the play-offs.

 

It's not a sure thing, but hopefully Danish team at least won't flop against winless Finland...

Italy and China are surely through...

among the leading 3, only Denmark are not mathematically in yet...

from today to saturday, in Sofia (BUL) the European Championships for the Olympic weight classes are on stage...

today's events podium places:

Women's -57kg

Gold: Tatiana Kudashova (RUS)

Silver: Inese Tarvida (LAT)

Bronze: Ekaterina Kim (RUS) and Jolanta Tarvida (LAT)

Men's -58kg

Gold: Mikhail Artamonov (RUS)

Silver: Jack Woolley (IRL)

Bronze: Vladimir Gritsenko (RUS) and Serghei Uscov (MDA)

as expected, it's just a Russian festival...but, still, it's nice to see 2 sisters on the same podium...

and in case you're asking yourself...no, they didn't fight against each other...Jolanta lost to Kudashova in the semis (and then her sister lost to the same Russian in the final bout)...

4 hours ago, hckosice said:

 

 

Haha, yep, First it was in my plans to post something about, but somehow I forgot it later so thanks for remembering, buddy

 

Indeed a great night for our "Gabby",  and a bit special for him especially it happened against his first and beloved team

 

but well, In Minnesota they have some great memories of him too probably the biggest from that legendary and epic night against the King Henrik

 

 

 

yeah, and if it were not for such a defensive-minded coach like Jacques Demers in his prime years in Minnesota, he could have scored so many more goals and points...

I still remember his amazing goals against Russia in the opening game of Torino 2006 Olympics...the first one especially, imho one of the best goals ever...speed, power and technique at their absolute top...

actually, that was one of the best hockey games I ever saw at any level...pure orgasm...

by the way, this NHL season is really intriguing and a very good show...

other than the obvious Kings, I'm watching in particular a lot of games of the Tampa Bay Lightning (because of the Stamkos/Kucherov duo, but not only...they always play so well in general) and of the Washington Capitals (because of Ovi, of course...he's definitely my favorite player in the last 15 years or so)...

and if I think that we won't watch those wonderful athletes in Pyeongchang thanks to a brainless commissioner like mr.Buttman (yeah, it's intentional...definitely not a typo ) and to those greedy and arrogant rich men called "owners"...you don't even imagine how do I feel and what I'd like to do to them (or maybe yes, since it's the same for you, I guess)...

59 minutes ago, bestmen said:

this one is much better

 

naaa...

this would be the perfect one...

31 minutes ago, thepharoah said:

 

I'm just saying it for fun  , but ofc i don't hope for such thing, i heard Putin and he said that there's no intention for boycott as these athletes spend years to prepare for Olympic Games and it'll be so unfair not to let them participate , so i guess both countries will take part 

yeah, I heard him too...

at least there's someone who's still using his brain (even if he's guilty of all this chaos for his part)...

mr. Trump and ms. Haley, instead...

well...let's forget them and let's talk about sport, which is definitely better...

@hckosice

I'm surprised you didn't write anything about Majo Gaborik's great night on Tuesday...

in the game between his (an "my" ) Kings against Minnesota, in fact, he scored twice to reach 2 milestones at the same time, 400 NHL career goals and 800 NHL career points (in 996 NHL career games, so approaching also another big milestone, the mythological number of 1000 games played in the best league in the World)...

https://www.nhl.com/news/minnesota-wild-los-angeles-kings-game-recap/c-293730364

p.s. and I also like to underline the 500 NHL career assists by the great Anze Kopitar...and, above all, the new winning streak (after an awful November) by the Kings...

if Kopi & Brown & Majo & Quick (and the youngsters) go on like they're doing in this first part of the season, we're back as real contenders...

frankly, I don't like any of them (actually, I don't like mascots at all in general)...

but, if I couldn't do differently, I'd rather choose A...the other 2 are really unwatchable for me...

9 hours ago, Nate River said:

More tragic news out of Alberta. 17 year old Max Burkhart from Germany has died due to injuries he sustained during a training run for a NorAm Downhill in Lake Louise.

second tragedy of this kind in just a few weeks...

we can say it's just bad luck...but I don't really think so...

we're now at a point where something has to be done (and quickly) to improve skiers' safety, especially during trainings and minor competitions...

1 hour ago, Gianlu33 said:

ted States' Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has claimed that it remains an "open question" if athletes from the country will participate at next year's Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang because of security fears.

 

What? USA, are you drunk? 

let the words of that criminal go...

she doesn't count anything within the administration...she's there only to shout at the moon and boycott any attempt by the UN to make this world better (provided they can do anything for that...and I don't think so, being the UN just a bunch of "arms stolen from agriculture")...

31 minutes ago, thepharoah said:

It'll be a historical day in sport if we get a boycott from the US and Russia at the same time 

no, it will be just the end of the Olympics...stop.

We got close to that in the Eighties of last Century (if it were not for South Korea and their corrupted but IOC-saving Games in Seoul in 1988) thanks to an idiot on the US driving seat (Ronald Regan)...

and, black irony if there's one, we're back to those shady days once again when we're approaching another edition of the Games in that same Country (this time it's the Winter Games, but it doesn't matter) with an even worse idiot once again on the US driving seat (the already unforgettable mr. Trump)...

according to the main Italian sports website, OA, 22 Russian athletes among those already disqualified by the Oswald Commission (Legkov, Zubkov and Tretiakov included) have appealed to CAS against their punishment...

https://www.oasport.it/2017/12/il-tas-riceve-gli-appelli-di-22-atleti-russi-lesito-sara-noto-prima-delle-olimpiadi-di-pyeongchang-2018/

p.s. sorry for the news in Italian, but I didn't find anythng related to that in English at the moment...

p.p.s. in Italian, TAS = CAS

and the italian girls started with the wrong foot...

they lost quite badly to Denmark...

now they can't afford any further mistake anymore...

I just can't be positive and optimist about Gaspari...when it really matters, she always finds the way to waste the chance...

and now it's all over...the 2017 season has given it all...

full recap of the Grand Prix Finals is in the previous page of this thread...

and finally the women's -67kg final saga comes to an end...now the Chinese and the Korean girls can fight for glory, too...

and then we can all go to sleep after these 2 "technically" (for both the awful streaming and the scoring system troubles) very difficult days...

at the end, the women's -67 final has been cancelled for the moment...the Koreans are complaining about the technical problem being only a Chinese fault...it's a real mess...

waiting for some decisions about that, they decided to put the men's -68kg on stage...Denisenko and Lee are now fighting...

electronic scoring system has gone KO...last couple of finals delayed...

but now it seems they're back working...

but things like these shouldn't happen at this level of competition...

false start...they're not ready yet...

World Grand Prix Finals (Abidjan, CIV)

Day 2 Recap

Women's -57kg

Semifinals

Jade Jones (GBR) b. Tatiana Kudashova (RUS) 18-14

Marta Calvo Gomez (ESP) b. Ekaterina Kim (RUS) 11-9

Bronze Medal Match

Tatiana Kudashova (RUS) b. Ekaterina Kim (RUS) 11-9

Final

Jade Jones (THA) b. Marta Calvo Gomez (ESP) 26-7

Men's +80kg

Semifinals

In Kyo-Don (KOR) b. Sajjad Mardani (IRI) 12-7

Vladislav Larin (RUS) b. Abdoul Issoufou (NIG) 9-8

Bronze Medal Match

Abdoul Issoufou (NIG) b. Sajjad Mardani (IRI) 11-5

Final

Vladislav Larin (RUS) b. In Kyo-Don (KOR) 2-0 GDP

Women's -67kg

Semifinals

Oh Hye-Ri (KOR) b. Paige McPherson (USA) 20-15

Guo Yunfei (CHN) b. Ruth Gbagbi (CIV) 8-8 (Kyong-Oh countback after scoreless 4th Round)

Bronze Medal Match

Ruth Gbagbi (CIV) b. Paige Mc Pherson (SRB) 14-9

Final

Guo Yunfei (CHN) b. Oh Hye-Ri (KOR) 31-9

Men's -68kg

Semifinals

Lee Dae-Hoon (KOR) b. Huang Yu-Jen (TPE) 24-7

Alexey Denisenko (RUS) b. Jaouad Achab (BEL) 16-13

Bronze Medal Match

Huang Yu-Jen (TPE) b. Jaouad Achab (BEL) 21-8

Final

Lee Dae-Hoon (KOR) b. Alexey Denisenko (RUS) 14-13

Men's Individual Foil (Turin, ITA)

Final Results:

Gold: Alexander Massialas  (USA)

Silver: Timur Safin  (RUS)

Bronze: Alessio Foconi (ITA) & Enzo Lefort (FRA)

Semifinals:

Massialas b. Lefort 15-7

Safin b. Foconi 15-12

Gold Medal Match:

Massialas b. Safin 15-13

Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition:

http://fie.org/competitions/2018/134/results/rank

Men's Team Sabre (Györ, HUN)

Gold: South Korea

Silver: Italy

Bronze: Hungary

Semifinals Results:

Italy b. Hungary 45-43

South Korea b. Russia 45-29

Bronze Medal Match Result:

Hungary b. Russia 45-40

Gold Medal Match Result:

South Korea b. Italy 45-35

Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition:

http://fie.org/competitions/2018/569/results/rank

well, today's action's over...

tomorrow's semifinals and finals will be streamed live here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Ic6WoyuFw

Local hero has won...let's start the party!

What a farce taekwondo is!!!