Sports thread: Everything sport related here.

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
The bombshell evidence that's gonna prove Shayna Jack is innocent and the naysayers wrong... she's going to hand over her diet diary.

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"November 6 1998... My mother did not take a time machine to the future and purchase and take Ligandrol and have me ingest it through her breast milk... June 26, 2019 6:30 am: I did not consume Ligandrol for breakfast. Noon: I did not consume Ligandrol for lunch. 5:30 pm: I did not consume Ligandrol for dinner."

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my congratulations to
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for not just winning in St. Louis, Mo (
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)
but for beating
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in blitz play-off which I've now watched (I'll link the video in the end of this post);
here are decisive moment according to me (LOL a pretty experienced pub-blitz-chess player):

1. Ding flagging Carlsen in the first blitz game
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2. Ding kind of waiting out Carlsen in the decisive blitz game (which Carlsen had to win); Carlsen, playing white, could've taken the knight here, but apparently tried to make the position even more complicated instead:
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3. Ding having the guts to exchange his queen for two rooks:
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4. soon after Ding made 'an inconspicuous' attack, Carlsen blundered and:
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LOL!

here's the footage:
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
Zhang wins China's first UFC title in stunning style
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Victorious Zhang Weili (C) was the first Chinese fighter to even get a title shot from the UFC (AFP Photo/STR)
Shenzhen (China) (AFP) - Zhang Weili thrilled a Chinese home crowd with an upset knockout of UFC strawweight champion Jessica Andrade that took just 41 seconds Saturday, making her China's first champion in the world's biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion.

The experienced Andrade, who came into the fight tied for the most wins by a woman in UFC history with 11, charged the underdog Zhang from the start.

But the Brazilian ran into a barrage of punches and knee kicks from Zhang that sent her staggering to the canvas as the referee waved the fight over.

"Last year in Beijing I vowed to become the first Chinese champion, and I did it!" Zhang, 30, declared afterwards at the UFC Fight Night event in a sports arena in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Zhang was the first Chinese fighter to even get a title shot from the UFC, which is pushing hard into a Chinese market where interest in MMA is growing rapidly.

The decision had raised some eyebrows as Zhang was only the sixth-ranked strawweight in the world, and given Andrade's reputation for brutally seeing off opponents.

Andrade has six years' experience in the UFC and was coming off a crushing first-round title victory in May over then-champ Rose "Thug" Namajunas of the United States.

But Zhang, who is known for her ferocious buzzsaw attacking style, never allowed Andrade to get going.

"As a Chinese person, I feel so proud," she said.

"Today, I want to dedicate this victory to the 70th anniversary of the motherland," she added, referring to the approaching anniversary on October 1 of the founding of Communist-ruled China.

Zhang has now won all four of her UFC fights, and has a 20-fight winning streak in all competitions.

She moves to 20-1, with that single loss coming in her first MMA bout in 2013.

Zhang trained in martial arts as a child but was inspired to enter MMA by the success of pioneering former women's world champion Ronda Rousey, who dominated the sport for years.

The Zhang-Andrade bout was the third time this year that female fighters had topped the card at an event staged by the UFC, with one more on the horizon before the end of 2019.

Earlier this year, the UFC opened what it bills as the world's largest MMA training and development base in Shanghai.

The center is aimed at building the UFC brand in China and at nurturing the next generation of Chinese mixed martial arts fighters, who can now draw inspiration from Zhang's victory.

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2019年FIBA篮球世界杯
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Tournament details
Host country
China

...
...
22:02, 14-Sep-2019
Why do NBA superstars lose their magic at the FIBA World Cup?
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The two teams that will meet in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Final on Sunday, Spain and Argentina, have in total four NBA players. By contrast, USA, comprised exclusively of NBA talent; Serbia, led by the league's No. 1 center; and Greece, led by 2019 NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, all failed to make the final.

How did this happen? Why is it that the best players from the world's best basketball league failed to match their success in the World Cup?

For starters, the difference in game rules between NBA and FIBA events was to blame. Without the defensive three-second violation, big men could stay comfortably in the paint, waiting for opponents to throw themselves into a zone defense trap. Besides, FIBA has a shorter 3-point line, meaning that players can help defend shots faster than they do in the NBA.

Antetokounmpo became the biggest victim of the above case. His signature offensive move of assaulting the rim using his monstrous power and stride length ceased to work with two or even three defenders in front of him. When he tried to post up, the double or triple team would also come sooner than expected.

Unlike on their NBA teams, many superstars have to play with teammates that they've only known for one or two weeks in the World Cup. There's rarely enough chemistry between them and more importantly, the national teams often have their own systems which are not built around the NBA stars. As a result, NBA players often cannot do what they do best and have to do extra work that they don’t like.

The Greek Freak again suffered from this. When he was with the Milwaukee Bucks, he usually had four shooters join him on the court. Such an arrangement not only stretched the defense, allowing him to maximize his penetration, but also helped his poor shooting. However, when Antetokounmpo was with the Greek national team, he did not have enough shooters to support him, not to mention that he did not always catch the ball.

Nikola Jokic also struggled to adapt to the different style. With the Denver Nuggets, Jokic was literally in every part of the team's offense – he set screens for teammates, posted up, ran a catch-and-shoot attack, carried the ball up the court, orchestrated around the free throw line and competed for offensive rebounds. The Joker was in absolute charge of Denver's offense and could make every decision by himself. Nonetheless, the national team only saw him as a big man who had shooting range and passing ability. Without enough decision-making power, Jokic lost his magic on offense.

USA are a special case in this situation because their players have different stories. The 12 NBA players could be separated into two groups: team leaders and quality role players. Leaders like Kemba Walker only had one job in the NBA, to score. His Charlotte Hornets teammates would set screens and chase rebounds for him. However, the national team saw Walker as an offensive spark who could break the team's shooting slumps when needed, and a player who could score in isolation. This not only hurt Walker's value on the court, but also exposed the disadvantage of his small size.

By contrast, Donovan Mitchell did a better job than Walker because he was accustomed to this role with the Utah Jazz.

Let's take Brook Lopez as an example for role players. The Bucks' seven-footer only needed to do two things: shoot 3-pointers and protect the rim. When he grew cold, other teammates could take over. When he was too slow to guard the perimeter players, Antetokounmpo was ready with help on defense. Nonetheless, Lopez could not afford to miss shots on the national team because they only had two good shooters. Besides, when he was the only big guy on the court, no one could help him on defense either.

Now we know what it takes to make a team work in FIBA events. First, players must be familiar with each other; second, they must have a complete skill set and be able to contribute instantly. Two teams actually met these standards – Argentina and Spain. Every player on Argentina's roster can shoot and pass. And on Spain's team, Marc Gasol can do everything, from passing, protecting the rim, switching defense and stretching the floor. But most importantly, both teams selected most of their players from La Liga ACB where they have known each other and played with (against) each other for years.
 

manqiangrexue

Brigadier
Well, it's my favorite time of year again. Today was day 1 (technically day 2 but real day 1 doesn't count because it's 2 non-Olympic weight classes) of the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships held this year in Thailand (ironically because the host country cannot participate due to doping ban).

Today, China swept all 6 gold medals on offer creating new 4 world records. China's Hou Zhihui won the gold medal in the women's 49kg snatch and silver in the clean&jerk and total. She was beaten by compatriot Jiang Huihua, who won the silver in the snatch but gold in both clean&jerk and total, beating Hou's total WR in order to win. In the men's 61kg division, Li Fabin swept all 3 gold medals by himself while setting new world records in the snatch and total.

Li Fabin:
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Jiang Huihua:
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manqiangrexue

Brigadier
Guys... I wasn't gonna post again about weightlifting until the 10 day world weightlifting competition was over and I'd just summarize (because it could be a little annoying to see daily updates for non-weightlifting fans) but... I have to. I just have to.

Lu Xiaojun is one of China's weightlifting legends. Today, he became the God of weightlifting. And it's not just for how much weight he lifted; that's of little importance compared to the mental fortitude that it took to do what he did today. Of all the weight classes, historic and present, and all the weightlifters active and retired, so many insane feats of strength have been exhibited that just going off of that alone, you could never claim to be the absolute best. But today, Lu Xiaojun showed us something that we've never seen before in history and no one thought was possible.

At 35 years old, everyone knew that Lu was nearing retirement. A snatch specialist, he had lifted several world records, with 177kg snatch being his best when he was younger but today, he had only 171kg, which was good enough for gold anyway. After lifting the weight, he departed the platform holding his back. He was hurting and everyone could see. This old lion, even injured, gave one last mighty roar to take the gold in his master discipline before he was ready to bow out.

When Lu came out for the clean and jerk, he set the weight to a modest 191kg. It was obvious that for a man holding his back, even 191kg was an ambitious effort to get a total score placing in the top 5 while leaving the victory up to his very capable younger compatriot, Li Dayin. After Lu made 191, wincing in pain, he retired to the warm-up room with ice on his back and his coaches massaging him. He could hope for no better than this today.

After Li Dayin made 198kg, to everyone's shock, Lu Xiaojun, without any warm-up, 20 minutes laying on the ground motionless with ice on his back, got up and declared 205kg. It made no sense. Even when younger and without injury, Lu's best lift was 204kg. How is it possible for a 35 year old lifter to make a career competition best while not only visibly injured, but also without any warm-up? It's suicide to even attempt the lift and would almost certainly result in serious injury. It was not Chinese to do such a thing as Chinese coaches are always remarkably conservative with their athletes, pulling them from competition at the slightest hint of injury to prevent catastrophic failure.

Lu approached the podium, the audience and announcers in shock, and he makes the lift, stumbling off the stage to be aided by his coach at the stairs. 205 was his new best score. Lu Xiaojun had just made a personal best and a world record (in the total, not the clean and jerk) at age 35, injured, and without warm-up. The announcers gasped and could only repeatedly ask, "How?? How is it possible?"

Moments later, Li Dayin approached the stage. The youngster took 206 in order to take the gold medal away from Lu. It was surprising because instead of going for 207 to take the clean and jerk world record, which was not Chinese, he decided to try to take the gold away from Lu Xiaojun for just 1 kg of safety. He made it clear: we are both Chinese but weightlifting is not a team sport. Li Dayin was successful and Lu Xiaojun lost the WR and fell to second place.

That would have been well more drama and excitement than anyone would have thought to see but it wasn't over. Lu once again rises from his iced back-massage, and declares 207, an attempt at the clean and jerk world record, to make a non-Chinese record a Chinese record. People are silent with shock; there were no higher levels of shock and amazement left to express. It would have already been more than too much to make 205 in such a physical condition but to follow 205 with 207? It can't be done. He had to have completely exhausted himself on 205.

Suddenly, my Chinese livestream cut dark. I would normally bark at the screen for this, but I couldn't find anything left in me to do so. All I could muster was to open the live scoreboard. There it was, 207 displayed in black, meaning an attempt under way. Red was failure, blue was success. I waited staring into those pixels on the screen that comprised the 207. It stood there as still as I was. Nothing happened for 2 minutes… a long 2 minutes, and then... 207 flashed blue. I stood there frozen with one thought in my mind: ‘Lu Xiaojun is undoubtedly the God of Gods in weightlifting. No one else can compare, not now, not in history.’

This is a picture of him and his family as they greet him after the medals ceremony with Lu Xiaojun sweeping all 3 golds in the men's 81kg division. His wife, Guo Xiyan, is also a professional weightlifter. The tally so far today is that out of a total of 24 gold medals in the Olympic classes, China had wrested 20 of them. That's right, 20 golds to China, 4 for the rest of the world.
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Watch him lift here. Go to 1:19:30 to see him approach for his 205 lift. It is the beginning of the disbelief of the announcers as they struggle to describe the events unfolding. Watch it to the end and you will see that for 20 more minutes, even long after he was done, nobody could get over his feat. Dumbfounded, the announcers repeatedly mutter "How?" "How is it possible?" even when the camera had already cut to other things. This is unprecedented in weightlifting history.
 
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