phelps

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Bronze Medal Bout Result (7) Romania - (9) Iran 45 - 35 Gold Medal Bout Result (5) Hungary - (3) Russia 38 - 45

well, in Sabre a big break can always happen, even between teams which are supposed to be closed... but in the end I think you're right...maybe it's still too early for Iran to get into a WCh Gold medal bout...but I also think that you can build on this team and have quite a good success in the next future... by the way, the dream of a podium place is also gone...ROU just won the Bronze medal bout by a score of 45-35... in any case, very good result for Iran...I guess you can be very satisfied even with this slighltly bitter 4th place...

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Semifinals Results (9) Iran - (5) Hungary 32 - 45 (3) Russia - (7) Romania 45 - 26

well, I really think that Iran today have a big, big chance to make the podium...HUN and ROU both have a great no.1 athlete, but the other players are not so strong... only RUS seem to be better than the rest...the remaining 2 places on the podium are really up for grabs...

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Quarterfinals Results (1) United States - (9) Iran 40 - 45 (5) Hungary - (4) Germany 45 - 43 (3) Russia - (6) South Korea 45 - 41 (7) Romania - (2) Italy 45 - 43 Semifinals Draw (9) Iran - (5) Hungary (3) Russia - (7) Romania

Yesterday it was an extraordinary and at the same time extremely sad day for the entire Italian Sport world... The final words "The End" came down over the career the best Italian female athlete of all times...we'll miss you, Valentina! and good luck for the rest of your life... unfortunately, a very focused Russian team spoiled the party...but, frankly, who cares? (this time, only) p.s. I hope the 2 refs of yesterday's final bout won't be at the Olympics (and if they will be there, at least I hope they won't get to ref any very important bout...it's not a question of one side or another...they just can't do it )...

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Final Standings Gold: RUSSIA Silver: ITALY Bronze: FRANCE 4th SOUTH KOREA 5th UNITED STATES 6th HUNGARY 7th CHINA 8th GERMANY 9th CANADA 10th POLAND 11th BRAZIL 12th JAPAN 13th COLOMBIA

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Bronze Medal Bout Result (5) France - (3) South Korea 45 - 18 Gold Medal Bout Result (1) Italy - (2) Russia 39 - 45

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Quarterfinals Results (1) Italy - (9) China 45 - 18 (5) France - (4) United States 45 - 44 (3) South Korea - (6) Germany 35 - 31 (7) Hungary - (2) Russia 31 - 45 Semifinals Results (1) Italy - (5) France 45 - 36 (3) South Korea - (2) Russia 38 - 43

they said "at the end of February / the beginning of March"... well, they're just a bit late, I suppose...

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Round of Last 32 Results (1) United States (Bye) (17) Japan - (16) Canada 45 - 43 (9) Iran (Bye) (8) France (Bye) (5) Hungary (Bye) (12) Spain (Bye) (13) Great Britain - (20) Chile 45 - 17 (4) Germany (Bye) (3) Russia (Bye) (19) Brazil - (14) Georgia 26 - 45 (11) Belarus (Bye) (6) South Korea (Bye) (7) Romania (Bye) (10) China (Bye) (15) Hong Kong - (18) Argentina 36 - 45 (2) Italy (Bye) Round of Last 16 Results (1) United States - (17) Japan 45 - 24 (9) Iran - (8) France 45 - 41 (5) Hungary - (12) Spain 45 - 29 (4) Germany - (13) Great Britain 45 - 35 (3) Russia - (14) Georgia 45 - 37 (11) Belarus - (6) South Korea 28 - 45 (7) Romania - (10) China 45 - 36 (2) Italy - (18) Argentina 45 - 26 Quarterfinals Table Draw (Wednesday) (1) United States - (9) Iran (5) Hungary - (4) Germany (3) Russia - (6) South Korea (7) Romania - (2) Italy

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Round of Last 16 Results (1) Italy (Bye) (9) China - (8) Canada 45 - 40 (5) France - (12) Brazil 45 - 20 (13) Colombia - (4) United States 17 - 45 (3) South Korea (Bye) (11) Japan - (6) Germany 26 - 45 (7) Hungary - (10) Poland 43 - 42 (2) Russia (Bye) Quarterfinals Table Draw (Tomorrow) (1) Italy - (9) China (5) France - (4) United States (3) South Korea - (6) Germany (7) Hungary - (2) Russia

Live Scoring and Link to Live Streaming starting from this webpage: http://www.fencingworldwide.com/en/competition/12285-15/tournament/

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Round of Last 32 Table Draw (1) United States (Bye) (17) Japan - (16) Canada (9) Iran (Bye) (8) France (Bye) (5) Hungary (Bye) (12) Spain (Bye) (13 Great Britain - (20) Chile (4) Germany (Bye) (3) Russia (Bye) (19) Brazil - (14) Georgia (11) Belarus (Bye) (6) South Korea (Bye) (7) Romania (Bye) (10) China (Bye) (15) Hong Kong - (18) Argentina (2) Italy (Bye) Round of Last 16 Table Draw (1) United States - TBD (9) Iran - (8) France (5) Hungary - (12) Spain (4) Germany - TBD (3) Russia - TBD (11) Belarus - (6) South Korea (7) Romania - (10) China (2) Italy - TBD

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Round of Last 16 Table Draw (1) Italy (Bye) (9) China - (8) Canada (5) France - (12) Brazil (13) Colombia - (4) United States (3) South Korea (Bye) (11) Japan - (6) Germany (7) Hungary - (10) Poland (2) Russia (Bye)

and still in Rio, from today to Wednesday are scheduled the Team World Championships for the 2 disciplines that the stupid rules that we all know leave out of the Olympics, the Women's Team Foil and the Men's Team Sabre... Today will be contested the early rounds for both tournaments, meanwhile tomorrow the will be the decisive rounds (from quarterfinals to the Gold Medal bout) of the Women's Foil and Wednesday it will be the Men's Sabre specialists' turn to fight for the medals...

after the end of the Olympic qualifications, the World Cup is back with its regular tournaments... in particular, betweens Saturday and yesterday the last men's and women's Epee Grand Prix of the season went on stage in Rio, in the same arena that will host the Olympic Games coming next August... Tatiana Logunova won the women's individual competition, defeating in the final bout Xu Anqi with a score of 5-3 (awful assault, to be honest...I'd not recommend to show it to your kids)... The Bronze Medal went to Katrina Lehis (lost to Logunova in the semis) and Olga Kochneva (lost to Xu in the semis)... In the men's event, the Gold Medal was won by Bogdan Nikishin, who ouscored Benjamin Steffen by 15-13... Bronze Medal winners were Park Kyoung Doo and Anatoliy Herey...

Luca Dotto swam a new National Record in the men's 100m Free in the first leg of the men's 4*100m Free Relay for club teams with 47.96, first Italian swimmer below the 48 secs barrier and second fastest time of the year so far (behind the amazing 47.04 by Cameron McEvoy - best time ever without rubbish...ops, I mean rubber suits)... meanwhile, in the women's 4*200 Free Relay for club teams Federica Pellegrini swam 1.54.8 in the last leg without too much effort...I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's actual individual race...

sorry for not being always on time (in this last few months unfortunate circumstances don't leave me a lot of time to dedicate to the forum and other entertaining activity), but in the next few days I'm going to post a full recap of what happened in the playoffs of all the major European Leagues...

Lee leads "Magnitka" to glory GAGARIN CUP FINALS CSKA Moscow 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 Metallurg wins the Gagarin Cup, clinching the final series 4-3 Two points from Chris Lee, two goals from Evgeny Timkin and 36 saves from Vasily Koshechkin saw Metallurg Magnitogorsk to a victory that sealed its second Gagarin Cup in three years. The visitor weathered a storm of pressure from CSKA but delivered a fine display of counter-attacking hockey – including a goal with its first shot of the night on 12:55 – to shatter the Army Men’s dreams of winning the playoffs for the first time since 1989 and completing a sweep of all three trophies up for grabs this season. Instead, Lee’s 39th-minute goal proved decisive. CSKA had tied the game just three minutes earlier, but home joy was shortlived. Lee, whose first-period assist silenced the crowd, repeated the trick when he unleashed a one-timer between the hatchings off a Jan Kovar pass from behind the net. There was still 20 minutes of hockey to play, 20 minutes for CSKA to save its Gagarin Cup dream. But the home team found no way past Koshechkin, a veteran goalie playing out of his skin to steer his team to the big prize. He produced the saves demanded of him by Stephane da Costa, Maxim Mamin, Geoff Platt and Vladimir Zharkov before an empty-net goal from Timkin sealed the victory in the last minute. That set another clutch of Gagarin Cup records. Metallurg head coach Ilya Vorobyov, at the age of 41, becomes the youngest man to coach a team to the big prize. He is also the first person to take over behind the bench part way through a season and go on to win it all, reawakening the championship skills of the roster he inherited from Mike Keenan. Many of that roster pick up their second winners’ medals: captain Sergei Mozyakin among them as he finished as the top post-season scorer with 25 (11+14) points. Forward Danis Zaripov, unusually out of the points in this game, gets his fourth Gagarin Cup winner’s medal. He won with Metallurg in 2014, and also helped Ak Bars to victory in the first two editions back in 2009 and 2010 (albeit only featuring once in post season in that second victorious campaign). But Metallurg’s triumph left CSKA distraught after a playoff campaign in which it seemed peerless until the final hurdle. Having lost just one game in three series to reach the final, Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team struggled with Metallurg’s ability to disrupt its play and slow the game down – and today’s first period illustrated the point more clinically than usual. CSKA had much the better of the opening stanza – but apart from one clear shooting opportunity for Alexander Radulov after an early defensive error the home team struggled to really get inside the opposition. And then, with Magnitka forced to play on the counter, Chris Lee demonstrated how to conjure a goal out of nothing. The defenseman collected the puck in his own end and produced a sublime pass, slicing through CSKA’s skaters and opening up half the ice for Evgeny Timkin to go one-on-one with Ilya Sorokin and beat the home goalie with the first shot he faced on the night. CSKA continued to press – the shot count would read 13-2 at the first intermission – but the clearest opening fell to the lively Mikhail Yunkov off a Simon Hjalmarsson pass and the former Metallurg man saw his shot blocked by Koshechkin. In the middle session the action moved closer to Koshechkin’s net as CSKA worked harder to get the puck into the danger zone. Scrambles on the slot were commonplace: Stephane da Costa went close, Yunkov saw another shooting chance go begging, Radulov worked from behind the net to prompt an almighty scrimmage in front of the target. As the pressure mounted, the big moment came: CSKA tied the game with a goal reminiscent of the breakaway that gave Metallurg the lead. Maxim Mamin was the home team’s hero, firing home the rebound after Bogdan Kiselevich’s pass set up Geoff Platt for a shot that Koshechkin could only pad away into the danger zone. It felt like a decisive shift to everyone in the stadium – except for the men from Magnitogorks. Parity proved short-lived: Chris Lee gave Metallurg the lead once again even before the home fans had finished celebrating their equalizer. The veteran D-man thumped home a one-timer from between the hatching off a pass from Jan Kovar behind the net. Timkin’s late marker put a ribbon on the final scoreline, and the celebrations stretching from Moscow right the way back to the southern Urals, could get underway in earnest.

Italian Championships - Day 2 Heats Piero Codia swam 51.42 (new National Record) in the 100m Fly heats (4th best time of 2016, behind Zuhao Li, CHN - the best so far this year with 51.17 - Konrad Czerniak, POL and Laszlo Cseh, HUN)... this time would have match the Italian Olympic selection criteria, but only the final counts, so, he has to repeat himself in the afternoon to earn his Rio ticket... Matteo Rivolta was second in the heats of the same discipline with 51.71, just 7/100 of a second outside his old National Record...but later today he needs to swim at least 2/100 faster if he wants to go to Rio, even by finishing in second place...

and here we have the full list of qualified fighters...finally...

Sabina Mikina (AZE) wins the final bout against Polina Kaspiarovich (BLR) by the score of 15 - 11 and qualifies for the Olympic Games in the Women's Individual Sabre...

Tiffany Geroudet (SUI) won the final bout against Renata Knapik (POL) by the score of 15 - 7 and qualifies for the Olympic Games...

wow! quite interesting (and surprising) results in round #1 of the men's -98kg in the Greco-Roman division... Oehler destroyed Cenk Ildem and also Aarusar (EST) won against Gadabadze (AZE)...