phelps

Finland (5-2 over Belarus) and Sweden (6-1 over Slovakia...sorry, @hckosice ) are first 2 teams qualified for the semifinals... meanwhile Switzerland won 5-2 against France in game #1 of the relegation playoff... in the other semis, after 1st period, USA are leading 1-0 over Russia and the Czechs are leading with the same score over the Canadians...but there's still a lot of hockey to be played in these 2 games...

first Gold goes to Russia, with Dolgova, who beat Csernoviczki in the women's -48kg final... the other deciders are Gerchev vs Yashuev (men's -60kg), Medves vs Gomboc (men's -66kg), Kuziutina vs Krasniqi (women's -52kg) and Gjakova vs Stoll (women's -57kg)... Kosovo on fire, with 2 girls on the "big" finals (however, Russia still on top of the rankings, with 3 finalists...and 1 already won it)...

oh, man! he got so close... I'm talking of Marco De Nicolo, the Italian veteran rifle specialist, who was second in the Men's 3-Position Rifle this morning. The winner was Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS). Meanwhile the other competition from today (the Pistol Mixed Team event) was won by the Chinese pair of Ji Xiaojing and Wu Jaiyu. Therefore Russia and China are always on top of the medal table, now with 3 Gold medals apiece. No changes in the lower ranks.

as promised, let's write a couple of words about the Swiss NLA Finals, game #6... first of all, we have to say that it was a really exciting game...very tight...and we have to say also that we're going to have a wonderful (in perspective, at least) game #7, since yesterday Lugano won it on the road by a score of 3-2 and tied the series, which means that any decision is posponed to tomorrow night in Lugano (puck drop @ 20.15 CET). Last night's game did see Lugano taking the lead once...and twice...but Zurich always came back... finally, with a bit more than 3 minutes to play, a relentless action by Lugano's checking line put Maxime Lapierre (who was double shifting through most of the game) in condition to strike the game winner with a diabolic deflection in front of Flueler's cage... the last 3 minutes were a pure demonstration of pride and bravery by Lugano players (those stil able to play, since the team is heavily plagued by injuries), who were able to stop Zurich's desperate final assault with empty net... to be mentioned, because it could have a lot of reflections on game #7, the horrendous and infamous check to the head and neck area suffered by HCL top scorer of the playoffs and absolute locker room leader, Maxime Lapierre, by the Swedish star and top goal scorer of the Zurich Lions, Fredrik Pettersson... should Lapierre miss the decisive game of the season and the Swedish guy still be allowed to play, it would be one of the major scandals in the Swiss hockey history... I really hope that Mad Max can play tomorrow and Pettersson gets disqualified, because hockey is a rude sport, but those coward attempts to deliberately get the best player of the opposing team injured can't be accepted at any level, anywhere and at any time...

results so far... Men's -60kg Semifinals: Yanislav Gerchev (BUL) vs Artem Lesyuk (UKR) Amiran Papinashvili (GEO) vs Islam Yashuev (RUS) Men's -66kg Semifinals: Matteo Medves (ITA) vs Marko Gusic (MNE) Adrian Gomboc (SLO) vs Orkhan Safarov (AZE) Women's -48kg Semifinals: Irina Dolgova (RUS) vs Melanie Clement (FRA) Milica Nikolic (SRB) vs Eva Csernoviczki (HUN) Women's -52kg Semifinals: Natalia Kuziutina (RUS) vs Evelyne Tschopp (SUI) Irem Korkmaz (TUR) vs Distria Krasniqi (KOS) Women's -57kg: Sarah Leonie Cysique (FRA) vs Theresa Stoll (GER) Anastasiia Konkina (RUS) vs Nora Gjakova (KOS)

started this morning... Live Scoring: http://www.ippon.org/eju_sen2018.php Live Streaming:

Judo EJU European Championships 2018 Tel Aviv (ISR) - 26 April 2018 - 28 April 2018 Official Website

and only a disapponting 5th place for Italy... by the way, success also for Viktoria Chaika (BLR, women's Air Pistol) and for local hero Kim Junhong (KOR, Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol), in this case also with a stunning finals world record, in the remaining competitions from today... China and Russia still the only 2 Countries with more than 1 Gold medal...meanwhile now there are 6 Nations with just 1 Gold and 20 with at least a medal (those with no gold included)...

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...