phelps

Japanese TV Networks...today it was TBS... I'm using an Android TV app called iSakura Pro (5 USD for 3 days, 2 stints to cover all the week)... https://japannettv.com/wpshop/index.php/isakurapro-plus/ by the way, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won today's game #6 with the score of 2-0 and are the new Nippon Series Champions (4-1 and a tie, the series score)... Van den hurk survived the first 2 difficult innings without giving up any run...and then he suddenly became untouchable for the following 4 (4 hits and 1 base on ball alowwed and 10 Ks in his 6 innings of work...and the satisfaction to be registered as the winning pitcher)... and when his relievers got the call from their manager, nothing changed...just 1 base on ball and no hits allowed by Takeda, Kayama and Mori in the final 3 innings... so, a manufactured run in the 4th and a solo shot by Gracial in the 5th were enough for the Hawks to take the win and the title home... for the Hawks is the 7th title overall (the 1st came in 1999), the 4th in the last 5 seasons and the second in a row... Fukuoka's catcher Takaya Kai was named Nippon Series 2018 MVP, mainly because of his unbelievable defensive plays (6 caught stealing in 6 games)...

@heywoodu Van Den Hurk did pitch earlier today in game #6 of the Nippon Series... I just start watching the game, so I don't know how he went yet, but I can tell you that he gave up a lead-off hit already in the bottom of the 1st inning... more about the whole game later tonight...

my heart is with option no.2... my mind (and the Antichrist inside me) is shouting: "3!" "3!" "3!" but I really fear the no.4..."nothing happens" AKA "the show must go on" AKA "IOC is going to hide their heads into the sand"...

also the great boxers of a few years ago (late Eighties), brothers Kaokor and Khaosai Galaxy took their names from their activity...Galaxy was the name of the gym where they used to train (and their main sponsor, too)...

good...who's offering the first shot?

no way!!! the Antichrist (AKA myself ) would be billion times better...

well, on satellite as a free HDTV channel, I think it's the second best option (behind CBC Sport of Azerbaijan)... then, the streaming world is a different thing, but the value of these 2 TV stations is not to be underestimated by those who don't want to pay for an official subscription to any pay-tv provider...

yes, outside China only the international news channel is available...unfortunately, all the other CCTV stations are not available...

as the last chance, Turkmenistan Sport Channel is live all day long... you can find it on satellite (@ 52.5 East), but also in live streaming... https://tv.online.tm/ch004.html sometimes it gets really interesting (they broadcast also a lot of European Football, especially Spanish LaLiga and Italian Serie A)...

by the way, I just discovered that short track has surrendered to the new fashion and has included a mixed relay (2 men, 2 women) in the world cup list of events...

probably he had to pull out after last week's Vans Pro Tour finals, where he had an awful semifinal heat (no idea, but maybe he had a slight injury...who knows? )...

well, high level surfing is a lot more developed worldwide than skateboarding... actually, ISA World Surfing Games medallists of the last couple of years come from all 5 continents...and also the top WSL surfers come from all continents (even if most of them are from USA, Brazil and Australia -in this case especially in the women's division)...

so, only Sorgente (it looks that any chance to see him starting for Italy in the next years have evaporated ) and Barros are there among the top Vans Pro riders (and in fact they had to take 26 and not only 22 riders from the qualifying heats, because many -actually, 4- seeded guys finally didn't confirm their participation)...

damn, I totally forgot that in this discipline there are 3 places per NOC, therefore my not so accurate analysis in the previous post... so, thanks for your update...

all the html pages with results could have been adjusted to a table format, sometimes directly, sometimes with the help of an excel page... .pdf files were not so easy to manage...they always required a lot of copy and paste and cancelling starting from a blocknote page and going to an excel one before posting the table on the forum (all excel tables were perfect fit for the old forum/new results forum...but also now they can pe posted as an image -just look at the season calendar in the new fencing thread)...

here's the men's qualifiers video... http://www.world-skate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF66302141

however, looking at the starting field, there are no Vans Park Series stars here...so, it's kind of B-World Champs... meanwhile, thinking about the Olympic Games, if we look at the top 20 places with a max of 2 skateboarders per NOC, in the women's event we only have 15 of those spots filled: JPN, USA, AUS, BRA, CHN, ESP with 2 each and BEL, ITA, PHI with 1 each... to find the last 5 quota, we should get back to those who were excluded after the qualifiers...and those 5 spots would eventually go to ITA-2, SWE, CAN, RUS, TUR...leaving out only the last 3 Nations (and 3 competitors overall) of the entire tournament (COL, IND, TPE)... on the other side, in the men's event we already have 18 "virtual spots" awarded after the qualifiers (USA, BRA, FRA, ESP, JPN, SWE, AUS with 2 each and CAN, NOR, GER, PHI with 1 each...and DEN + CAN-2 being the 2 quota awarded among those who are out of the top 22)... but, as I wrote before, it's just a useless ranking, since many of the real stars of this game are not included (unless some of them are among the 8 pre-seeded athletes who are already through to the semifinals by right, whose names I just can't find anywhere)...

Men's Qualifiers, Top 22 (those who advanced to the semifinal stage) Heimana Reynolds Luiz Francisco Vincent Matheron Liam Cloud Pace Jaime Mateu Robin Bolian Jake Wooten Yuto Horigome Murilo Peres Kensuke Sasaoka Oskar Rozenberg Hallberg Q.P. Henrique Tate Vincent Carew Danny Leon Gavin Rune Bottger Keegan Palmer Andy Anderson Jakob Robinson Tyler Edtmayer Kevin Baekkel Simon Karlsson Francisco Kiko

so, Home Gold coming in 2 years time... by the way, this is the video of the Women's Finals (real finals start at about 30 mins)... http://www.world-skate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF66302141

Women's Final Results Gold: Sakura Yosozumi Silver: Kisa Nakamura Bronze: Poppy Starr Olsen 4th, Jordyn Barratt 5th, Misugu Okamoto 6th, Bryce Wettstein 7th, Kokona Hiraki 8th, Isadora Pacheco

Nippon Series 2018 a walk-off HR by Yuki Yanagita in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks the victory in a very entertaining game #5... this time we've had quite a few lead changes through the entire game and a close match until the end, but the result is the same as the last 3 matches, the Hawks win... and now they lead 3-1 (and a tie) in the Nippon Series, just 1 win away from the final triumph... the Hiroshima Toyo Carp now have their shoulders against the wall, but at least they will have their home crowd's support in the next chapters of this saga... game #6 is scheduled for Saturday in Hiroshima, always @ 6.30 p.m. Japan time (10.30 a.m. CET)... p.s. @heywoodu keep an eye on Saturday's game...there's a chance that Van den Hurk could pitch for the Hawks, even if it's more likely to see him on Sunday (if a further game is needed)...

Fukuoka Softbank Hawks took the lead in the Nippon Series thanks to an easy (and not so exciting) game #4 win vs the Hiroshima Toyo Carp (4-1 the final score) on home ground... today's match winner was really never in doubt...a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 3rd inning did break the tie and then the Hawks never looked back... game #5 is scheduled for tomorrow, always in Fukuoka and always at the same time (6.30 p.m. local, 10.30 a.m. CET)...

It’s fair for trans women to compete in women’s sports (Dr. Rachel McKinnon says)... https://www.cbc.ca/playersvoice/entry/its-fair-for-trans-women-to-compete-in-womens-sport

latest news (still nothing decided)... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-olympic-bid-city-council-vote-1.4885670

it looks that Santo Condorelli will be cleared to swim for the Italyan National team very soon, probably already in time to enter the Short Course Swimming Worlds mid December in China under his new Flag... well, always if he can swim the required times in the upcoming meets which will be held in Italy in November... and on November 8th and 9th, at the Nico Sapio Memorial Meet in Genua, Federica Pellegrini will make her season's debut and for the occasion she'll get back to her beloved 200m Free for the 1st time since that magic race in Budapest in 2017...