Kazakhstan

2016-08-28 (Söndag/Sunday)

Posted on by What did you learn in School today ?

Idag lärde jag mig, att:

Augusti anno 2016 var månaden när Sverige hade fyra drottningar! HKH Silvia må förlåta mig, men namnen på allas läppar är naturligtvis Sarah, Jenny och Tove! (Vilken tur att det inte blev OS-guld i fotboll! Visst har vi stora hjärtan, men hur skulle väl 27 drottningar kunna rymmas på samma gång?)

Sveriges Radios excellenta sportredaktion sammanställde ett utdrag från sina referat med alla svenska medaljtillfällen i Rio-2016, se och lyssna på bildspelet i referens nummer 1 nedan. Tyvärr är orientering inte en olympisk sport ännu, så bättre än VM-guld är ju omöjligt, referens nummer 2 nedan handlar om när Tove tog hem sitt första (av två) seniorguld.

SJT

Svensk idrotts gyllene drottningar, från vänster till höger: Sarah Sjöström, Jenny Rissveds och Tove Alexandersson. Material från Digitala insatsstyrkan på Sveriges Radio och TT Nyhetsbyrån.

So you think you know everything? Then answer me, which is the biggest landlocked country in the world, i.e. a country which has no natural access to a major stretch of water? You may think of Switzerland, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Bolivia, Paraguay and others, but the answer is Kazakhstan! And the following photo is also from Kazakhstan, an internal river named Ural river, at the city of Uralsk.

Uralfloden

The physical border between Europe and Asia, the Ural river at the city of Uralsk, Kazakhstan. Photo taken by Dina Giltinan on 2016-08-25.

And just as yesterday, when yet another bridge connecting Europe and Asia was inaugurated in Istanbul, so is this also the exact spot where the two meet. Europe is at the left side of the river, Asia is on the right sida. My friend Dina was recently there visiting her parents and was kind enough to send me this photo and others from Uralsk, thank you very much! Below is a medley of some of those photos. See also reference number 4 below.

Uralsk14

Four photos from Uralsk, all taken by Dina Giltinan on 2016-08-01. From left to right: Two typical scenes, the Monument of Syrym Datouly and the Golden Church, as well as the portal showing that we are leaving Europe into Asia (third photo), and then coming back from Asia into Europe (fourth picture). This portal is located on the European side shortly before the dividing bridge shown in the header photo.

… Tack för idag, slut för idag! / That’s what I learned in school!

Refs.:

1: De svenska OS-medaljerna på 100 sekunder – bildspel och referat

2: VM-guld till Tove Alexandersson

3: Kazakhstan

4: Uralsk

+: What did you learn in school today ?

2016-02-03 (Wednesday)

Posted on by What did you learn in School today ?

Today, I learned once more that:

As it happens every year around this time, one of the most ridiculous world championships is under way. During one week, eight countries are represented by their national teams to decide which one is the best in the world in a sport called bandy.

If you do not know what bandy is, think of it as a mixture of football (real football, not American, aka soccer), field hockey and ice hockey. From football has been taken the football ground, the 11-person team and the 2 x 45 minutes game time. Field hockey has contributed with the hooked stick. The size of the goals are intermediate between football and ice hockey, and ice hockey has contributed with the ice and skates. The only original thing with bandy is the small ball, extremely difficult to see if you are on the grandstands of a bandy game.

bandycountries

The countries (in green), where bandy is played

The international bandy federation (FIB), with headquarters in the Swedish city of Söderhamn, has 32 member countries, of which the eight teams highest on the international ranking participate in the supreme division to compete for the world championships title. They are divided into two groups of four countries each, with the four best in group A and the other four in group B. In three rounds, their is a round robbin where all teams meet the others once. After those games, the team in position 1 in group A plays team number 4 of group B, the second team in group A plays the third team of group B, etc.

And once more, for the fifth time in a row, everything points to a final game between Russia and Sweden, and a bronze medal game between Finland and Kazakhstan. The two first rounds of group A have resulted in scores of 9-1, 9-1, 11-4 and 10-2, with Sweden and Russia beating Finland and Kazakhstan.

bandy2015

Sweden and Russia playing in the 2015 world championships. Photo by Martin Henriksson/FIB

So, why go through this weekly ordeal to end up with the same nations, Russia and Sweden, determining again who is the best in the world. Let them play a series of best-of-three games, one in each country and, if necessary, a third game in a neutral country.

Update 2016-02-07: It is always difficult to predict, especially about the future! Sweden underestimated Finland in one of the semifinals, losing the game with 3-2. Russia then beat Finland 6-1 in the final, and Sweden took the bronze medals.

… That’s what I learned in school!

Refs.:

1: Bandy

2: Federation of International Bandy

3: 2016 Bandy World Championship

+: What did you learn in school today ?