phelps

Artistic Skating The 2017 World Roller Games continue in Nanjing, China, with Senior Long programs and Couple Dance with their free dance. Great suspance in the Wutaishan Gymnasium for the final match between Italy’s and Spain’s freeskating. The event looks wide open with a strong group of contenders that can all grab the title. Silvia Nemesio took her second World title in Senior Ladies freeskating producing a strong performance on traditional chinese music. She opened her program nailing a perferct triple lutz-triple rittberger combination; silver for Spain’s Monica Gimeno Coma who today skated a disappoing long program; bronze for Itlay’s Silvia Lambruschi performing to a passionate Bizet’s “Carmen”. Great show for Men Long program event, where Italy won everything. Luca Lucaroni took his second gold medal with a flawless performance of Fred Astaire and his tip tap, showing powerful jumps, speedy spins, good footwork and interpretation. Andrea Girotto, World Champion in 2015, finished second with an amazing and original long program, Alessandro Amadesi, World Champions 2014, came third producing a strong performance to a machine that becomes human. In Junior Couples the free dance confirmed the style results: Portual’s Josè Cruz and Daniela Dias claimed the gold medal skating an excellent program, Italy’s Daniele Da Col and Chiara Martinotti danced to Muse and Coldplay music a very fluid performance and took the silver, Luca Orsetti and Alessia Orsi obtained the bronze skating the most elegant program of the day. In Senior Couple dance Anna Remondini and Daniel Morandin of Itlay claimed their first gold medal together performing to the olimpic dream for rollerskating; silver for Italy’s Silvia Stibilj and Andrea Bassi with an amazing “La La Land” where they put their heart in it, bronze for Portugal brothers’ Jose Souto and Mariana Souto performing to Lady Gaga who sang about violence against women.

In-Line Freestyle Skating Today at the Youth Olympic Sports Park Gymnasium took place the speed slalom competition. Iran and China won their first medals here at the Roller Games and managed to surprise athletes and coaches with their performances. Before now, European countries (especially France and Italy) were considered the best national teams in the speed slalom scene, and lately also China and China Taipei emerged. This year, all the podiums were dominated by Asian countries both in Junior and Senior categories. Not only physical power and accuracy but also great mental strength is needed to accomplish great results in speed slalom and this new generation of speed slalom skaters behaved like super experienced skaters both in the time trials phase and during the finals. The results: JUNIOR WOMEN 1st Ahmadi Taraneh (Iran) 2nd Ting Yu En (China Taipei)
 3rd Liu Chiao Hsi (China Taipei) JUNIOR MEN 1st Yu Jun Yan (China) 2nd Chen Yu-Hsiang (China Taipei) 3rd Shojaei Barjouei Ali (Iran) SENIOR WOMEN 1st Chen Bei-Yi (China Taipei) 2nd Arabi Laya (Iran) 3rd Lo Pei-Yu (China Taipei) SENIOR MEN 1st Zhang Hao (China) 2nd Chen Yu Chi (China Taipei) 3rd Xiao Bing Sheng (China Taipei)

In-Line Hockey World Championships Senior Women's Semifinals USA - Canada 3-2 Spain - Czech Republic 4-0 Senior Men's Semifinals Italy - Czech Republic 3-2 France - Canada 6-0

Men's Rink Hockey World Championships Quarterfinals Spain - Colombia 11-3 Portugal - Mozambique 4-3 Italy - Chile 6-3 (on Penalty Shots, 3-3 after Regulation and Overtime) Argentina - Angola 4-3 (after Overtime, 3-3 after Regulation) 5th/8th Place Classification Matches Colombia - Chile 3-2 Angola - Mozambique 6-3 Semifinals Italy - Spain 0-4 Portugal - Argentina 5-0

Shotgun World Championships 2017 Women's Junior Skeet, Final Results Gold: JACOB Katharina Monika (USA) Silver: SMITH Austen Jewell (USA) Bronze: SIMONTON Samantha (USA) 4th: JONES Aislin (AUS) 5th: HOCKOVA Vanesa (SVK) 6th: ADAMKOVA Hana (CZE) Team Event: Gold: UNITED STATES Silver: CZECH REPUBLIC Bronze: GERMANY Women's Senior Skeet, Final Results Gold: VIZZI Jo Dania (USA) Silver: SHAKIROVA Albina (RUS) Bronze: ELEFTHERIOU Andri (CYP) 4th: RHODE Kimberly (USA) 5th: BACOSI Diana (ITA) 6th: SHI Hong Yan (CHN) Team Event: Gold: UNITED STATES Silver: ITALY Bronze: RUSSIA Awful day for Italy in Russia... after dominateing the Olympic Games last year, our skeet girls couldn't get even close to those results...and the best placing at the end was the 5th rank earned by the Olympic Champion Diana Bacosi... and among the juniors it was a real disaster...no team medal, no individual finalists... let's hope that the guys tomorrow can get a sweet revenge... p.s. by the way, after a full week of competitions, the tv producers still haven't learned anything about shooting...they just can't do their job properly...all the finals are almost unwatchable...

This is a very imporant week for European Ice Hockey... In fact, today is the 6th anniversary of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash (therefore today is the only day in this first months of the season without a single KHL game to be played, just to honor and in sign of respect for that tragedy)... On the other side, this week almost every European top League gets underway... yesterday it was the Belarussian Extraliga the first to begin their 2017/2018 season, meanwhile tonight the season opener of the Swiss National League is on the center stage... then, tomorrow is the X-day, with the Finnish Liiga, the Czech Extraliga, the Slovak Extraliga, the German DEL, the EBEL (the Austrian "open" championship, with teams also from Italy, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia), the Danish Superisligaen, the Norwegian Get-Ligaen and the Interliga (with teams from Hungary, Romania and the EBEL's Vienna Capitals farm team) ready to start their new journey... after the "appetizer" with the start of the KHL and the CHL and waiting for the "big one" (the NHL, of course), I hope it's gonna be a great season of domestic Hockey for every Country... take care and have fun with the most beautiful sport in the world...

fidati, il ritorno della Diouf fa più danni di qualsiasi defezione...sia in campo che nel "gruppo"... con la "gatta di marmo" non si va da nessuna parte...

no, I don't like it...but we don't live in a perfect world... so, if I have to choose the lesser of evils, I still go with the option "keep the limit"...

fantastico...ora aspettiamo solo le fantasiose spiegazioni di rito, così ci facciamo 2 risate... p.s. e se consideriamo il ritorno della Diouf, allora possiamo dire che il progetto di risollevare la nazionale donne (partito con risultati superiori alle attese al WGP) sia già franato completamente...

1- I'm totally in favor of increasing the number of athletes by reducing the number of judges and officials (by throwing off the games most of the sports where only personal and highly interpretable judging is the competition's decider...for instance, no more Trampoline and Rhythmic Gymnastics, no more Synchronized Swimming and Synchronized Diving, absolute "no" to sports like Skateboarding, Surfing and Freestyle BMX, no more Race Walking in Athletics - well, that's for another reason, but the final result is the same), with no increase of expense for the organizers of the Games (actually, with a proper policy for infrastructures - no socalled "cathedrals in the desert" - and less pretentious people around, costs should drop)... 2- In most disciplines it's already the bitter truth...so, it wouldn't change much in most cases...

no need to write about those "less mediatic" sports... just take Athletics and Swimming...with no limitations even for only the top 8 of the world ranking, we would see a repeated USA vs JAM in almost every final (not even talking of podium places, just making the final) of speed events and/or KEN vs ETH in all endurance events for what concerns athletics and a US clean sweep (if not a full final with US athletes only) in at least 50% of swimming disciplines (and I'm keeping myself "fair"...it could be even more)... are all of you sure that this is what you want to see at the Olympic Games? to me, this is not what I like...I like outsiders, small Countries entering at least in a few finals (if not making the podium) and a fair distribution of gold medals (frankly, the idea of having the USA or China winning 90% of gold medals would kepp me well far away from watching the Olympic Games...I'd probably focus only on those 2 or 3 full PRO sports that nothing have to do with the Games and lose my interest in almost any of the wonderful "minor" disciplines I'm in love with right now)... that's why I say "keep those sometimes unfair rules" and not only...even enforce it by forbidding multiple starts for any athlete in sports like rowing or canoeing (and many more) and not allowing more than 2 individual starts in swimming and athletics (and 2 starts overall in Cycling, within all disciplines of the sport)... probably we wouldn't have any "legend" like Phelps or other "sport's Stakanov", but I'm sure that the Games in general would be more "open" and in a certain way more interesting...

Men's Rink Hockey Senior World Championships Group A, Day #3 Argentina - Italy 6-1 Portugal - France 6-5 Final Standings ARG, 9 pts ITA, 6 pts POR, 3 pts FRA, 0 pts Group B, Day #3 Chile - Germany 7-3 Spain - Mozambique 3-2 Final Standings ESP, 9 pts MOZ, 6 pts CHI, 3 pts GER, 0 pts FIRS Cup Group A, Final Standings COL, 9 pts AUT, 6 pts MAC, 1 pt RSA, 1 pt Group B, Final Standings ANG, 9 pts NED, 6 pts EGY, 3 pts USA, 0 pts World Championships Quarterfinals Thursday, all times CET h.06.30: Spain – Colombia h.08.30: Mozambique – Portugal h.10.30: Chile – Italy h.12.30: Angola – Argentina P.S. All games will be streamed live on the Roller Games TV

Shotgun World Championships 2017 Men's Junior Double Trap, Final Results Gold: DEDMAN James (GBR) Silver: RIZVI Ahvar (IND) Bronze: QI Ying (CHN) 4th: ILES-CREVATIN Mitchell (AUS) 5th: YUKHIMENKO Viacheslav (RUS) 6th: VIHAN Shardul (IND) Team Event: Gold: INDIA Silver: ITALY Bronze: CHINA Men's Senior Double Trap, Final Results Gold: FOKEEV Vitaly (RUS) Silver: MITTAL Ankur (IND) Bronze: HU Binyuan (CHN) 4th: FRENCH Matthew (GBR) 5th: BARILLA' Antonino (ITA) 6th: DI SPIGNO Daniele (ITA) Team Event: Gold: ITALY Silver: CHINA Bronze: RUSSIA Not a great day for Italy, missing out on medals in both the individual events (actually, not even making the final among the juniors)... moreover, the sad day for us was completed when, at the end of today's competition, Daniele Di Spigno ("only" 42 years old, but twice world champion, current world record holder over 200 targets with unmatchable 194, 10 world cup stages and 2 world cup finals wins, 8 times European champion - and only counting his senior individual achievements) announced his retirement because of lack of motivation after IOC and ISSF dismissed the Double Trap event from the next Olympic Games...

keep it and enforce it... I mean, I know that this is not fair to some great athletes, but nowadays you keep the Olympics at the center stage of sports in almost any Country because with this system also the smallest Nations can find 1 or 2 medals to celebrate every time... if we grant the top athletes in every discipline a start despite making a Country-based selection "a priori", the risk is that in most sports we're going to see in the medal table basically only the powerhouses in each discipline... so, I think an event like the Olympics need to keep this rule in place in order to give to more smaller Countries more chances to keep their interest in the Games (which would drop drastically if most of them can't even find 1 or 2 athletes in the a final of the whole program)... for instance, I can tell you for sure that here in Italy if we wouldn't be regularly up in the top 10 of the Olympic Medal Table, no attention would be given by the media to the Olympics (and we are already now always at risk of not having enough tv coverage for the Games, especially the Winter Games, which are normally less successful for us and because winter sports are not followed in large part of our Country)...

I understand your point of view... and basically I agree with you... for sure I can tell you that our National TV for the first time in many, many years is not broadcasting the Rink Hockey tournament, while they always did it in the past when Rink Hockey had their World Champs standalone...

yeah, I think this system is really unfair for the second tier teams and a gift to the third tier teams... on the other hand, I understand the idea of the International Federation to limit the humiliating scores for those smaller teams like Austria, South Africa and so on, avoiding them to play in the group phase against the big powerhouses like Spain, Argentina and Portugal (who normally score tons of goals against those smaller Hockey Nations)... I guess that they should find something different half way from this but not going back to the old 35-0 days... let's see what they decide in the next few seasons about it...

well, first all shooters have to shoot 2*25 (50) shots in the qualifying round... then the guy and the girl's scores are added together and this is the final score for each team (pair)... top 6 pairs go through to the semifinal stage, where there are 2 groups with 3 pairs each... they have to shoot once again 25 targets (both the guy and the girl) and the addition of their scores makes the final result for the team... winners from each group advance to the gold medal match, 2nd pair in each group go to the bronze medal match... medal matches are again a long 25+25 shots series for both teams...the highest combined score (man + woman) is the eventual winner of the match... as you can see, the procedure is very long and sometimes also very boring... in my opinion, to make it a bit more exciting they should buil a direct match ups draw with the top 8 teams instead of that senseless semifinal stage and, bove all, shorten up the medal match ups...

I guess you are...

well, since I don't know how many people are folowing the other disciplines, I don't have any clue to give you an answer that makes sense... for sure, Rink Hockey doesn't have as much followers in China as it would get in Southern Europe or in South America...

if they didn't change the rules this season, no...not in the group phase, at least... each tem would get 1 point in the standings and then they should look at the goal difference, then the most goals scored...

I was quite skeptical about it...now I know...this mixed events are unwatchable...basically, it's a farce... thanks IOC for killing another sport with this ****

Roller Skating Slalom Men's Senior Combined Race Gold: Marco WALZ (GER) Silver: Marco MORERA DOMINGUEZ (ESP) Bronze: Kristaps ZVEJNIEKS (LAT) Full Results: ftp://firsftp.enetres.net/FIRS/Alpine/Results/Sep 04/Senior Men Combined Race Results.pdf Women's Senior Combined Race Gold: Mona SING (GER) Silver: Lara KOEGEL (GER) Bronze: Lisa SCHMID (GER) Full Results: ftp://firsftp.enetres.net/FIRS/Alpine/Results/Sep 04/Senior Women Combined Race Results.pdf

Men's Rink Hockey Senior World Championships Group A, Day #2 Italy - Portugal 4-2 Argentina - France 5-2 Group B, Day #2 Mozambique - Germany 7-3 Spain - Chile 4-3 p.s. today I watched ITA vs POR (and yesterday ARG vs POR)...and there were at least 100/150 spectators (yesterday a bit more than today, to be honest)...so, a few (very few) tickets have been sold...

at a first look, based on team composition and the first round of preliminaries, Italy didn't take the Mixed Trap event too seriously...probably today there will be room for some other Countries to shine at the end of the day (still, the Rossi/Pellielo pair couldn't agree with that, but they started really bad and it won't be easy for them to comeback and qualify for the semifinal stage)...

Champions Hockey League 2017/2018 Yesterday's Results HC05 Banská Bystrica 5-3 Red Bull Salzburg IFK Helsinki 2-4 Red Bull Munich Comarch Cracovia 2-3 Brynäs IF Tappara Tampere 4-2 Grizzlys Wolfsburg Cardiff Devils 4-3 (ot) HC Davos Standings after Gameday #4 http://www.championshockeyleague.com/en/standings#tab_standings=group-stage&select_standings=0 The situation hasn't changed much from the last couple of gamedays... Finland (Tappara Tampere and JYP Jyväskylä), Czech Republic (Ocèlaři Třinec and Kometa Brno) and Sweden (Växjö Lakers and Frölunda Indians) still have 2 group-leading teams each, meanwhile Germany have 1 (Red Bull Munich). The only newcomers are the surprising Nottingham Panthers (GBR), leaders in group F... On the other side, the only group where things are already decided is Group G, where Red Bull Munich (GER) and Brynäs IF Gävle (SWE) are mathematically through to the next round and IFK Helsinki (FIN) and Comarch Cracovia (POL) are already eliminated...