Highlights and results of noteworthy competitions around the world:
● ARCHERY ● Ellison and Kaufhold lead big after stage two of the U.S. Olympic Trials
The second stage of the four-part U.S. Olympic Trials process was completed last week in College Station, Texas, as part of the Texas Shoot-Out. From more than 200 starters, the field has now been narrowed to 16 men and 16 women.
Thus far, the U.S. has qualified one place in the men’s and women’s tournament, so even though there will be another opportunity to qualify a team, first place is what counts. Through the first two rounds of the Trials, the top scorers:
● Men:
1. 35.00 points ~ Brady Ellison
2. 26.50 points ~ Jack Williams
3. 25.00 points ~ Matthew Nofel
4. 20.75 points ~ Thomas Stanwood
5. 20.50 points ~ Josef Scarboro
● Women:
1. 33.00 points ~ Casey Kaufhold
2. 24.25 points ~ Mackenzie Brown
3. 24.00 points ~ Eric Mickelberry
4. 23.50 points ~ Eliana Claps
5. 22.50 points ~ Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez
Ellison and Kaufhold – still 15 – dominated the second stage; Ellison took the Ranking Round, 677-652, ahead of Nofel, and led the round-robin with 13 victories. Kaufhold won the Ranking Round over Claps, 653-643 and had 13 wins in the round-robin stage. Complete results are here.
The third stage, which will cut the field to eight, comes in the spring.
● EQUESTRIAN ● Ireland wins in Nations Cup Jumping Final in Barcelona
The FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final was a nail-biter in Barcelona (ESP), as Ireland’s top three riders collected just one penalty in the final round to win not only the trophy, but also a spot in the 2020 Olympic field in Tokyo.
The Irish trio of Paul O’Shea (0), Cian O’Connor (0) and Darragh Kenny (1) had just the one error and finished ahead of defending champs Belgium (4) and a trio of teams with 12 total penalties: Sweden, Italy and France. By virtue of time, Sweden won the bronze medal … by one second! More here.
● GYMNASTICS ● Hancharou wins over Gao in Valladolid Trampoline World Cup
Rio Olympic Champion Uladzislau Hancharou of Belarus scored a win against China’s three-time World Champion Lei Gao in the Trampoline World Cup in Valladolid (ESP) last weekend.
Gao had the top qualifying score at 114.220, but Hancharou managed to up his game in the final to win 61.445-61.380. Russia’s Andrey Yudin was third (60.945).
China’s two-time World Champion Lingling Liu won the women’s event over teammate Xueying Zhu, 104.665-106.645. Japan’s Hikaru Mori was third at 104.185.
More results here.
● JUDO ● The return of Riner headlines Brasilia Grand Prix
He was ranked only no. 58 in the world coming in, but everyone knew that France’s Teddy Riner was the star attraction of the IJF Grand Prix in Brazilia (BRA).
Invitations to the 2020 Olympic tournament are based primarily on placement on the IJF World Rankings list, a points-accumulation system. So Riner, who hasn’t appeared much since the 2017 World Championships – he’s a 10-time World Champion – needed to get going in the +110 kg division.
Riner came in with a 144-match winning streak and added to it right away, defeating Kokoro Kageura (JPN), Inal Tasoev (BUL), no. 2-ranked Lukas Krpalek (CZE) in the semifinal and no. 5 David Moura of Brazil to take the title and extend his win streak to 148. Riner’s now up to no. 31 and rising in the world rankings; with the win, he’s now no. 27 in the IJF’s Olympic rankings and qualified (as of now) for Tokyo.
The lone no. 1-ranked judoka in the men’s field was Spain’s Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, who defeated Cuba’s Ivan Felipe Silva Morales to win the 90 kg class.
Host country Brazil dominated the medal table with 17, winning four classes with Allan Kuwabara (60 kg), Daniel Cargnin (66 kg) in the men’s division and Ketleyn Quadros (63 kg) and Beatriz Souza (+78 kg) in the women’s tournament. Complete results here.
● KARATE ● Four World Champions win at Premiere League 6 in Moscow
The sixth of seven stops on the Katate 1 Premier League circuit in Moscow (RUS) saw many familiar faces on the podium, with four current World Champions winning out of the 10 individual classes.
In the men’s division, Japan’s Ryo Kiyuna (Kata) and Steven Dacosta (FRA: 67 kg) were winners, while Spain’s Sandra Sanchez (ESP: Kata) and Pole Irina Zaretska (58 kg) triumphed.
The most popular winner at the Megasport Arena was Russia’s Ivanna Zaytseva in the women’s +68 kg division. Complete results here.
● RUGBY SEVENS ● U.S. women win Rugby Sevens opener in Colorado
The 2019-2020 season of the HSBC Sevens Series began in Glendale, Colorado with an early women’s tournament, won by the United States.
The U.S. was only 2-1 on its pool, losing to France, but won its quarterfinal, 29-26, over Canada and the semifinal by 19-17 over New Zealand. The French, meanwhile, lost to Australia in its semi, 40-0! The U.S. had no trouble with the Aussies, 26-7, in the final.
The next installment of the women’s series comes in December in Dubai (UAE).
● TABLE TENNIS ● China sweeps Swedish Open; two wins each for Meng Chen & Xin Xu
The ITTF Swedish Open in Stockholm was almost an all-Chinese affairs as eight of the 10 finalists were Chinese and all five of the winners:
● Men/Singles: Chuqin Wang defeated Gaoyuan Lin, 4-0.
● Men/Doubles: Zhendong Fan/Xin Xu d. Jingkun Liang/Gaoyuan Lin, 3-2.
● Women/Singles: Meng Chen d. Fei Liu, 4-0.
● Women/Doubles: Meng Chen/Ning Ding d. Miu Hirano/Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN), 3-1.
● Mixed Doubles: Xin Xu/Shiwen Liu d. Jun Mizutani/Mima Ito (JPN), 3-2.
This was the first year for the Mixed Doubles, but the eighth sweep of the other four events by China, dating back to 2000. Complete results here.
