phelps

yeah
but in field hockey you almost don't even need qualifiers...there are always the same teams 😈😬🤦

according to the Olympic website, both the winners of 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasons will earn direct berths to the Olympic Games in LA 

yeah
but in field hockey you almost don't even need qualifiers...there are always the same teams 😈😬🤦

this tournament is also the official opening of the secondary Hockey venue for the Olympic Games, where most of the women's games will be played

according to the Olympic website, both the winners of 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasons will earn direct berths to the Olympic Games in LA 

the pools of the preliminary stage of the 2026/2027 World Cup have been determined by WBSC
 
the Pool A will be played in  Prague between June 16th through 20th, 2026 and will feature  
 
the pool B will be played in  Lima from July 14th through July 18th, 2026 and will feature  
 
the Pool C will be staged in  Oklahoma City from September 12th through 16th, 2026 featuring  
 
the Top 2 in each pool and 2 wild card teams (1 necesarily being  if they don't qualify on the field) will advance to the World Cup Finals (Talobilla Park in  Redcliffe, Brisbane, April 5th through April 11th, 2027)

so, as expected, no gold in the men's Kata and only 3 total medals 
 
luckily, the great Matteo Avanzini saved our ass, winning the most prestigious gold of them all and renovating the great tradition  has in the men's heavyweights after a few years of drought
 
being one of the only 4 Nations (tbh, it should be 3, as  only got it because they're the only serious player in Oceania) with people qualified to this World Champ final stage in every class should make us proud, but only one medal out of 10 kumite categories is definitely not acceptable, it must be named "disappointing"
 
more in general, it's confirmed the great variety of competitive Nations in this sport and how difficult is it to take a medal home, with only the Host Country  being capable of winning more than one gold medal and a good total of 28 Countries winning at least one medal out of "only" 12 competitions.

Final Medal Table

3 / 0 / 0
1 / 1 / 1
1 / 1 / 1
1 / 1 / 1
1 / 1 / 1
1 / 0 / 1
1 / 0 / 1
1 / 0 / 0
1 / 0 / 0
1 / 0 / 0
0 / 1 / 2
0 / 1 / 1
0 / 1 / 0
0 / 1 / 0
0 / 1 / 0
0 / 1 / 0
0 / 1 / 0
0 / 1 / 0
0 / 0 / 2
0 / 0 / 1
0 / 0 / 1
0 / 0 / 1
()  0 / 0 / 1
()  0 / 0 / 1
0 / 0 / 1
0 / 0 / 1
0 / 0 / 1
0 / 0 / 1

Final Day Recap, Part #2
 
women's Kumite, -50kg

 
Gold Medal Match: Gulshan Alimardanova b. Shahmalarani Chandran 6-1
Bronze Medal Match #1: Yorgelis Salazar Camacho b. Tsang Yee Ting 6-6*
Bronze Medal Match #2: Sara Bahmanyar b. Lili Alvarado 3-0

Gold: Gulshan Alimardanova
Silver: Shahmalarani Chandran
Bronze: Yorgelis Salazar Camacho & Lili Alvarado

women's Kumite, -55kg

Gold Medal Match: Ahlam Youssef b. Nina Kvasnicova 9-3
Bronze Medal Match #1: Anzhelika Terliuga b. Valentina Toro Meneses 6-4
Bronze Medal Match #2: Louiza Abouriche b. Hana Furumoto-Deshaies 4-1

Gold: Ahlam Youssef 
Silver: Nina Kvasnicova
Bronze: Anzhelika Terliuga & Louiza Abouriche

women's Kumite, -61kg

Gold Medal Match: Atousa Golshadnejad b. Gong Li 4-2
Bronze Medal Match #1: Assel Kanay b. Oleksandra Sholohova 3-2
Bronze Medal Match #2: Wafa Mahjoub b. () Maryia Azarava 7-6

Gold: Atousa Golshadnejad
Silver: Gong Li
Bronze: Assel Kanay & Wafa Mahjoub

women's Kumite, -68kg

Gold Medal Match: Thalya Sombe b. Janessa Michelle Fonseca Romero 3-1
Bronze Medal Match #1: Anastasiia Velozo b. Elena Quirici 13-7
Bronze Medal Match #2: Iryna Zaretska b. Silvia Semeraro 9-1

Gold: Thalya Sombe
Silver: Janessa Michelle Fonseca Romero
Bronze: Anastasiia Velozo & Iryna Zaretska

women's Kumite, +68kg

Gold Medal Match: Johanna Kneer b. Sofya Berultseva 8-0
Bronze Medal Match #1: Rochelle Walters b. Ingrid Creemers 9-6
Bronze Medal Match #2: Kyriaki Kydonaki b. Guadalupe Quintal Catzin 8-6

Gold: Johanna Kneer
Silver: Sofya Berultseva
Bronze: Rochelle Walters & Kyriaki Kydonaki
 
 
* = Senshu
** = Hantei

so, as expected, no gold in the men's Kata and only 3 total medals 
 
luckily, the great Matteo Avanzini saved our ass, winning the most prestigious gold of them all and renovating the great tradition  has in the men's heavyweights after a few years of drought
 
being one of the only 4 Nations (tbh, it should be 3, as  only got it because they're the only serious player in Oceania) with people qualified to this World Champ final stage in every class should make us proud, but only one medal out of 10 kumite categories is definitely not acceptable, it must be named "disappointing"
 
more in general, it's confirmed the great variety of competitive Nations in this sport and how difficult is it to take a medal home, with only the Host Country  being capable of winning more than one gold medal and a good total of 28 Countries winning at least one medal out of "only" 12 competitions.

Day #3 Recap, Part #2
 
women's Kumite, -50kg, Quarterfinals
 
Gulshan Alimardanova b. Yorgelis Salazar Camacho 1-0
Tsang Yee Ting b. Tiphaine Bonnarde 3-1
Sara Bahmanyar b. Reem Ahmed Salama 2-2*
Shahmalarani Chandran b. Lili Alvarado 5-3

women's Kumite, -50kg, Semifinals

Gulshan Alimardanova b. Tsang Yee Ting 2-2*
Shahmalarani Chandran b. Sara Bahmanyar 4-1

Gold Medal Match: Gulshan Alimardanova vs Shahmalarani Chandran
Bronze Medal Match #1: Tsang Yee Ting vs Yorgelis Salazar Camacho
Bronze Medal Match #2: Sara Bahmanyar vs Lili Alvarado

women's Kumite, -55kg, Quarterfinals

Ahlam Youssef b. Anzhelika Terliuga 8-4
Valentina Toro Meneses b. Fateme Saadati 1-0
Louiza Abouriche b. Madina Sadigova 8-3
Nina Kvasnicova b. Hana Furumoto-Deshaies 4-1

women's Kumite, -55kg, Semifinals

Ahlam Youssef b. Valentina Toro Meneses 8-4
Nina Kvasnicova b. Louiza Abouriche 5-0

Gold Medal Match: Ahlam Youssef vs Nina Kvasnicova  @hckošice 
Bronze Medal Match #1: Valentina Toro Meneses vs Anzhelika Terliuga
Bronze Medal Match #2: Louiza Abouriche vs Hana Furumoto-Deshaies

women's Kumite, -61kg, Quarterfinals

Gong Li b. Assel Kanay 1-1*
Oleksandra Sholohova b. Sevinch Otaboyeva 4-2
Atousa Golshadnejad b. (BLR) Maryia Azarava 5-0
Wafa Mahjoub b. Sarara Shimada 6-2

women's Kumite, -61kg, Semifinals

Gong Li b. Oleksandra Sholohova 5-0
Atousa Golshadnejad b. Wafa Mahjoub 4-1

Gold Medal Match: Gong Li vs Atousa Golshadnejad
Bronze Medal Match #1: Oleksandra Sholohova vs Assel Kanay
Bronze Medal Match #2: Wafa Mahjoub vs (BLR) Maryia Azarava

women's Kumite, -68kg, Quarterfinals

Janessa Michelle Fonseca Romero b. Anastasiia Velozo 2-1
Elena Quirici b. Daiyana Darenskaya 1-1*
Thalya Sombe b. Silvia Semeraro 2-1
Iryna Zaretska b. Hadir Hendy 0-0**

women's Kumite, -68kg, Semifinals

Janessa Michelle Fonseca Romero vs Elena Quirici 3-2
Thalya Sombe vs Iryna Zaretska 4-4*

Gold Medal Match: Janessa Michelle Fonseca Romero vs Thalya Sombe
Bronze Medal Match #1: Elena Quirici vs Anastasiia Velozo
Bronze Medal Match #2: Iryna Zaretska vs Silvia Semeraro
 
 
* = Senshu
** = Hantei

the first official track records of the new Olympic Oval in Milan:
 
women's 1000m: Meike Veen, 1.16.61
men's 1000m: Kayo Vos, 1.10.87
women's 3000m: Kristina Shumekova, 4.13.08
men's 3000m: Riccardo Lorello, 3.44.86
 
the Kazah girl is a junior, the other 3 record setters are neo-seniors

Day #3 Recap, Part #3
 
women's Kumite, +68kg, Quarterfinals

Rochelle Walters b. Shaaban Okila Menna 5-2
Sofya Berultseva b. Ingrid Creemers 0-0**
Kyriaki Kydonaki b. Dariia Bulay 4-3
Johanna Kneer b. Guadalupe Quintal Catzin 4-3

women's Kumite, +68kg, Semifinals

Sofya Berultseva b. Rochelle Walters 5-3
Johanna Kneer vs Kyriaki Kydonaki 4-0

Gold Medal Match: Sofya Berultseva vs Johanna Kneer
Bronze Medal Match #1: Rochelle Walters vs Ingrid Creemers
Bronze Medal Match #2: Kyriaki Kydonaki vs Guadalupe Quintal Catzin  @mrv86

men's Kumite, -60kg, Quarterfinals

Eray Samdan b. Tsotne Sordia 3-2
Christos-Stefanos Xenos b. (RUS) Akhmed Akhmedov 1-0
Mekhriddin Turakhonov b. Alì Meskini 3-1
Islam Selmani b. Hiromu Hashimoto 6-3

men's Kumite, -60kg, Semifinals

Eray Samdan b. Christos-Stefanos Xenos 1-1*
Islam Selmani b. Mekhriddin Turakhonov 9-1

Gold Medal Match: Eray Samdan vs Islam Selmani
Bronze Medal Match #1: Christos-Stefanos Xenos vs Tsotne Sordia
Bronze Medal Match #2: Mekhriddin Turakhonov vs Hiromu Hashimoto

men's Kumite, -67kg, Quarterfinals

Afeef Ghaith b. Georgios Baliotis 5-3
Abdul Vakhkhob Rashidov b. (RUS) Iurik Ogannisian 3-1
Tomas Freire Fuentes b. Ayoub Anis Helassa 3-2
Said Oubaya b. Didar Amirali 5-5*

men's Kumite, -67kg, Semifinals

Afeef Ghaith b. Abdul Vakhkhob Rashidov 6-0
Said Oubaya b. Tomas Freire Fuentes 7-3

Gold Medal Match: Afeef Ghaith vs Said Oubaya
Bronze Medal Match #1: Abdul Vakhkhob Rashidov vs Georgios Baliotis
Bronze Medal Match #2: Tomas Freire Fuentes vs Didar Amirali

men's Kumite, -75kg, Quarterfinals

Andrii Zaplitnyi b. Enzo Berthon 4-1
(RUS) Ernest Sharafutdinov b. Nurkanat Azhikanov 11-3
Suren Harutyunyan b. Hamza Sam 6-1
Mamduh Abdelaziz Abdalla b. Thomas Scott 6-4

men's Kumite, -75kg, Semifinals

Andrii Zaplitnyi vs (RUS) Ernest Sharafutdinov 6-3
Mamduh Abdelaziz Abdalla b. Suren Harutyunyan 4-2

Gold Medal Match: Andrii Zaplitnyi vs Mamduh Abdelaziz Abdalla
Bronze Medal Match #1: (RUS) Ernest Sharafutdinov vs Enzo Berthon
Bronze Medal Match #2: Suren Harutyunyan vs Thomas Scott
 
 
* = Senshu
** = Hantei

breve riassunto odierno (al netto del Gigante femminile, ancora da disputarsi)
 
Biathlon: grande argento della staffetta femminile, grazie soprattutto a una Vittozzi clamorosa e nonostante la solita Carrara al tiro
disastro Bionaz al maschile, che azzera ogni possibilità della squadra italiana, per 2 frazioni ottima e sempre tra le prime 3 e alla fine 6a grazie a una rimonta parziale di Giacomel in ultima frazione (più per errori altrui che meriti propri, in realtà)
 
Short Track: ottimo argento della staffetta femminile (a un soffio dal colpaccio contro la solita Olanda), amarezza, rimpianti e frustrazione nelle altre gare (Nadalini 4., bruciato all'ultima curva, nei 1500m e scandalosamente penalizzato in semifinale nei 500m; Sighel auto-eliminato dalla finale A per un grave errore tattico nei 1500m e buttato a terra da  Dubois -poi squalificato dopo aver tagliato il traguardo per primo- nella finale dei 500m; Confortola 5a nei 1000m femminili)
bene la staffetta maschile in finale (domani)
 
Fondo:

e ho detto tutto!
 
Slittino: inaugurata la pista di Cortina anche in versione slitte coi piedi davanti
5i e 7i Rieder/Kainzwaldner e Nagler/Malleier nel doppio maschile, ma incoraggiante il fatto che siano di fatto attaccati, a pochi millesimi, dall'argento (e a 3 decimi dall'oro dei crucchi Orlamunder/Gubitz); Rieder/Kainzwaldner erano anche secondi dopo la prima discesa
nel doppio femminile, promettente secondo posto di Voetter/Oberhofer a soli 5 centesimi dalle tedesche Eitberger/Matschina (e davanti di pochi millesimi alle austriache Egle/Kipp), positivo il fatto che tutte le altre coppie dal quarto posto in su ssono parecchio staccate
dominio tedesco (1a Fraebel, 2a Taubitz) nel singolo donne, 6a e 7a Verena Hofer e Sandra Robatscher, non così lontane dal 3. posto dell'austriaca Lisa Schulte
 
Bob: solo 16. Baumgartner a Innsbruck nella seconda gara di CdM del "2", giornata da dimenticare
 
Freestyle e Snowboard: vedi Fondo
 
Pattinaggio Velocità: inaugurata la pista di Milano con la CdM Juniores e Neo-Senior
sembra una pista di buona qualità, abbastanza veloce (1.10 per vincere i 1000m e 3.44 -di Riccardo Lorello- per primeggiare nei 3000m)
vedremo in quali condizioni sarà a febbraio

aggiornamento...
 
Karate
 
non era partito granchè bene il mondiale per gli azzurri, ma alla fine sembra che abbiamo raddrizzato un po' la situazione
 
abbiamo infatti conquistato 2 posti nelle finali per l'oro (Alessio Ghinami nel Kata maschile e Matteo Avanzini nei pesi massimi del Kumite maschile) e 3 in quelle per il bronzo (Silvia Semeraro e Michele Martina nelle rispettive categorie del Kumite, Terryana D'Onofrio nel Kata femminile)
 
dovessimo portare a casa l'oro di Avanzini (Ghinami difficilmente potrà lottare alla pari con il giapponese nella finale del Kata maschile, lo prendo per un argento quasi scontato, essendo una disciplina "giudicata") e i 3 bronzi, potremmo classificare questo mondiale come positivo

Judo
 
buon bronzo di Carlotta Avanzato nei -63kg femminili oggi ad Abu Dhabi, 7. posto per Fabrizio Esposito nei -73kg maschil
deludono Antonio Esposito e Bright Maddaloni Nosa nei -81kg
 
Vela
 
quarto posto della campionessa olimpica Marta Maggetti nella gara femminile agli Europei iQFoiL di Sferracavallo (Palermo)
delude invece Nicolò Renna al maschile
da segnalare anche il clamoroso 7. posto assoluto (argento Under-23) della 15enne Medea Falcioni al femminile e l'oro e il bronzo maschili Under-23 di Leonardo Tomasini (7. assoluto, miglior azzurro in gara) e Federico Alan Pillonì (9. assoluto)

naaa, you can't win the men's heavyweight gold 
gotta be happy with silver

only few years ago having only 2 finalists would be considered disappointing but considering the current poor state of our Karate (specially the men's team), I think we have to be satisfied with 2 in gold medal match and 1 in bronze medal match. 
 
let's see what they can do tomorrow, I will be happy if they end up with 2 golds and 1 bronze

finally, our 3 Kumite guys made it through to the medal rounds, the 2 veterans (Semeraro, women's -68kg and Martina, men's -84kg) will fight for bronze and our new leader Matteo Avanzini will fight for Gold in the men's Heavyweights 
 
and also the Kata medal matches will feature the  specialists, D'Onofrio in the bronze medal match in the women's division and Ghinami in the gold medal match in the men's division 
 
it didn't start well at all, but it looks that in the end it won't be a total disaster (provided Tomorrow we get the Kumite gold and all the 3 bronze medals -silver in the men's Kata it's basically written in the stone)
 
ps @hckošice it looks that  should lobby very hard for Karate's comeback to the Olympics  

Day #1 Recap
 
women's Kata, Quarterfinals

Ana Cruz vs Terryana D'Onofrio
Sakura Kokumai vs Maho Ono
Georgia-Archontia Xenou vs Chiara Manca
Aya Hesham vs Grace Lau Mo Sheung

women's Kumite, -50kg, Quarterfinals

Yorgelis Salazar Camacho vs Gulshan Alimardanova
Tiphaine Bonnarde vs Tsang Yee Ting
Reem Ahmed Salama vs Sara Bahmanyar
Lili Alvarado vs Shahmalarani Chandran

women's Kumite, -55kg, Quarterfinals

Anzhelika Terliuga vs Ahlam Youssef
Fateme Saadati vs Valentina Toro Meneses
Louiza Abouriche vs Madina Sadigova
Hana Furumoto-Deshaies vs Nina Kvasnicova

men's Kumite, -60kg, Quarterfinals

Tsotne Sordia vs Eray Samdan
() Akhmed Akhmedov vs Christos-Stefanos Xenos
Alì Meskini vs Mekhriddin Turakhonov
Islam Selmani vs Hiromu Hashimoto

men's Kumite, -67kg, Quarterfinals

Afeef Ghaith vs Georgios Baliotis
Abdul Vakhkhob Rashidov vs () Iurik Ogannisian
Tomas Freire Fuentes vs Ayoub Anis Helassa
Didar Amirali vs Said Oubaya

men's Kumite, -75kg, Quarterfinals

Andrii Zaplitnyi vs Enzo Berthon
() Ernest Sharafutdinov vs Nurkanat Azhikanov
Hamza Sam vs Suren Harutyunyan
Thomas Scott vs Mamduh Abdelaziz Abdalla 
 

Mondiali FIFA di Futsal femminile
 
  3 - 1  
 
Italia seconda nel girone e qualificata agli ottavi di finale dove affronterà il Portogallo (due volte finalista agli Europei)
 
 
Quarti
Martedì 2 Dicembre h 11:00 (italiane)
 
  vs   

Curling
 
termina con una umiliante, inopinata sconfitta contro la cenerentola (già relegata) Cechia il supplizio europeo della squadra femminile.
sconfitta contro la Scozia anche per gli uomini, ma in questo caso l'incontro era del tutto inutile ai fini del ranking, visto che i nostri ragazzi erano già certi del terzo posto prima del match odierno.
in semifinale (domani mattina alle 8, ora italiana) andrà in scena l'eterno derby contro la Svizzera, contro cui abbiamo peraltro già perso (male, buttando la vittoria nel finale) nel round robin.
 
Snowboard
 
non inizia sotto una buona stella nemmeno la stagione di Ian Matteoli e compagni nello Snowboard Freestyle (Big Air nel caso odierno).
qui nessuno si è fatto male, ma allo stesso tempo nessuno è riuscito a centrare la finale nel primo appuntamento di CdM di stagione.
vicino all'obiettivo Matteoli, cui sono mancati un paio di punti in una run di qualifica ad altissimi punteggi; impresentabili gli altri (non che non fosse previsto, non si passa da mediocri a campioni nel giro di un'estate )
 
Pattinaggio Velocità
 
ricordo anche l'appuntamento "minore" con la CdM Juniores di Speedskating per sabato e domenica.
2 giorni di gare che diventano però "maggiori" considerando il fatto che queste gare costituiscono l'inaugurazione ufficiale (e il test-event olimpico) della nuova, avveniristica, fantastica pista di Rho/Fiera (struttura purtroppo temporanea, che se invece fosse mantenuta stabilmente operativa diventerebbe immediatamente un punto di riferimento eccezionale per questo sport a livello non soltanto italiano -il che sarebbe ovvio, scontato- ma persino a livello globale, perchè neanche Pechino -l'ultimo grande stadio dello speedskating costruito- ha tutte le comodità e gli spazi per atleti e stampa che sono stati approntati a Milano).
p.s. sabato, ingresso gratuito; domenica, prezzo simbolico 1€
https://www.fisg.it/pista-lunga-a-rho-fiera-scatta-la-coppa-del-mondo-junior-test-event-olimpico-verso-milano-cortina/

more surprises Today
 
for what concerns , Today it was definitely a better day, but still not completely satisfying (Ferracuti's loss in the round of 16 hurts)
 
Tomorrow the Para-Karate will be on stage in the morning, then in the afternoon it's time for the Quarterfinals and Semifinals in all the Kata and Kumite classes, in order to set up Sunday's big medal session

Day #2 Recap
 
men's Kata, Quarterfinals
 
Roman Hrcka vs Alessio Ghinami
Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila vs Ariel Torres Gutierrez
Petru Comanescu vs Enes Ozdemir
Mostafa Elghobashy vs Kakeru Nishiyama

women's Kumite, -61kg, Quarterfinals

Assel Kanay vs Gong Li
Sevinch Otaboyeva vs Oleksandra Sholohova
() Maryia Azarava vs Atousa Golshadnejad
Sarara Shimada vs Wafa Mahjoub

women's Kumite, -68kg, Quarterfinals

Janessa Michelle Fonseca Romero vs Anastasiia Velozo
Daiyana Darenskaya vs Elena Quirici
Silvia Semeraro vs Thalya Sombe
Hadir Hendy vs Iryna Zaretska

women's Kumite, +68kg, Quarterfinals

Rochelle Walters vs Shaaban Okila Menna
Ingrid Creemers vs Sofya Berultseva
Dariia Bulay vs Kyriaki Kydonaki
Johanna Kneer vs Guadalupe Quintal Catzin

men's Kumite, -84kg, Quarterfinals

Mohammad Aljafari vs () Eduard Gasparian
Rayen Ghazouani vs Youssef Badawy
Michele Martina vs Hasan Arslan
Mehdi Sriti vs Ivan Kvesic

men's Kumite, +84kg, Quarterfinals

Sanad Sufyani vs Saleh Abazari
Anes Bostandzic vs Rodrigo Rojas
Matteo Avanzini vs () Ivan Kudzinau
Eduard Sagilyan vs Asiman Gurbanli
 

more surprises Today
 
for what concerns , Today it was definitely a better day, but still not completely satisfying (Ferracuti's loss in the round of 16 hurts)
 
Tomorrow the Para-Karate will be on stage in the morning, then in the afternoon it's time for the Quarterfinals and Semifinals in all the Kata and Kumite classes, in order to set up Sunday's big medal session