Giovanniland

First Four Days of the Lavender Festival! On the 25th of December, the nation of Giovanniland started its celebration of the Lavender Festival. Throughout the country, one can spot many gardens and fields made purple by the color of the lavender plant, as well as wonderful decorations and perfumes inside houses. People prepare their bunches of lavender to leave at the doorstep, waiting for good fortunes in 1422, which will also start with beautiful purple fireworks. On the first day of the celebration, an opening speech was given by the Mayor of Uryde, Gyalseno Velanio-Lodeno, mentioning the longevity of the Lavender Festival and officially declaring the Lavender Fair open. The first two days were interesting for culinary connoisseurs, as lavender cupcakes were highlighted for the first day, and lavender tea for the second. The Prime Minister of the nation, Amore Gile Abrente, notably visited the second day of the fair, and told reporters that she was pleased with Velanio-Lodeno's innovative idea, and hoped for further cultural collaboration between national, regional, and municipal governments. The lavender cupcakes and tea for the 1st and 2nd days respectively. Later, the 3rd and 4th days had lavender healthcare products featured, such as lotion bars and face cream. Furthermore, on the 28th of December, many people went into the Lavandulan Mausoleum of Uryde to mourn the death of Emperor Tsering I (reigned 1132-1111 BF), with lavenders placed near his tomb. Besides being the father of the emperor Tsering II that created this very celebration, he also founded a dynasty that contributed a lot to the Lavandulan Empire internally, and prepared it for further expansions during the peak of the empire in the following next centuries. Anyways, that is all that has happened during the first four days of the Lavender Festival! Tune in again later for a retrospective of the next three days and the New Year, in a festival full of culture and history that is worth celebrating. This is correspondent Amalia Elisa-Montana of the Nuntikarta Giovanniterrana's northern branch, signing off.

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The Lavender Festival of Giovanniland The Lavender Festival is one of the most prominent Giovannilandian holidays, along with New Year (January 1st), Empire Day (January 16th), Kingdom Revolution Day (June 15th), Harvonian Day (August 29th), and Constitution Day (October 30th). It happens during the week before New Year, starting from December 25th, meaning it's also often considered together with New Year composing its final day. The festival dates back to the age of the Lavandulan Empire, with archaeological records pointing to the first edition being held around 1100 BF during the reign of Emperor Tsering II. The capital Uryde, at the time known as Lavandula, had prominent lavender fields around it and was thus chosen as the main location for the event. The tradition has passed down generation to generation ever since, from the days of the Lavandulan Empire, then the post-imperial Duchy of Quorivo, and continues to the present day. The flag of the Lavanda Prima region. The green represents the soil, the lavender represents the plant's fields, and the blue represents the sky. The lavender is commonly seen in Giovanniland as a symbol as prosperity and renewal, hence the festival's date just before the New Year. However, since the modern calendar was only introduced in Giovanniland through the Abrentans, the celebration has not always happened during the same time of the year. Only after Emperor Giovanni II the Great unified the entire island under the Giovannilandian Empire did the celebration expand beyond the Lavandulan region and start to happen all across the nation. The festival passed on to the modern Kingdom of Giovanniland, and its holiday status was enshrined into law after the passage of the Holidays Act of 1253. Giovanniland celebrates the holiday with various activities. Lavender is planted into home gardens some months in advance of the event in order to have them fully grown, and lavender bunches are used to decorate the insides of houses. Lavender aroma compounds and perfumes from lavender oil are also used to give a pleasant odor, and various food recipes also use parts of the lavender and are commonly baked during the festival. Last but not least, it is a common tradition to leave some lavender bunches at the doorstep, so that good fortunes can ensue for the following year. Therefore, one can see how important this festival is for Giovannilandians from all the nation, and especially the northern part where it originated from. The current mayor of Uryde, Gyalseno Velanio-Lodeno from the Partito Librale-Demokrata, has capitalized on this opportunity to improve the city and the nation's economy through the creation of the upcoming Lavender Fair, with several markets across the city taking part. Each day, a different lavender product will be featured in those markets and have a discount on its price, while other lavender products will be sold normally, although the specific items won't be revealed until their own day. Furthermore, Prime Minister Amore Gile Abrente is expected to visit the fair and deliver a speech about this important celebration, helping on visibility. Lavender products on sale at a market in Uryde.

Thanks for the update! Congratulations for His Majesty's many achievements and soon-to-be-longest reign, and good luck to the incoming Monarch.

Thank you for the well-written update as always, and congrats for successfully leading the Army of Freedom operation in which TWPAF participated!

Great issue, thanks for sharing!

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[language post being reworked, for now see the spreadsheet here.]

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - Grand Finale 26 Gold - 21 Silver - 22 Bronze Hello, Giovannilandians! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. Today marks the last edition of this special report before it turns back into our normal Sports Report, and I'm sure both me and many of you will miss the Esferiad. Nevertheless, there's a lot to talk today, as Giovanniland earned 6 medals during the last day and brought its total to 69 medals, of course finishing first in both the gold and total medal rankings. There were several events and the Closing Ceremony happening yesterday, and I'll now talk about those! In Kharventhin, a few athletes of the Giovannilandian delegation and of course King Giovanni VI were present at the Closing Ceremony. They watched closely as the ceremony started and displayed traditional dances of the native Glendora people, later featuring Lavandulan and Giovannilandian ones as well, to represent those empires. The latter part of this performance featured dancers representing the resistance of Blue Bubble against the Giovannian Empire, and then modern events in that nation, for example the military coup, the push for democracy, and opening of the borders. Athletes from all countries then rode boats also featuring hoisted flags, with Blue Bubble and Giovanniland coming in last. Following the parade of nations, final medals were awarded and speeches were given by Gabriello Hiberno-Elisano (President of the Quorivo & Kharventhin Organising Committee of the Esferic Games), and Chi Ijendu (Chair of the International Esferiad Commission) on the games. The screen showed the flame in Giovanniland being put out by water from the Violet Lake, as Kassakira Petrovikan and King Giovanni VI both announced the closure of the Esferiad. Finally, a firework display glittering in the reflection of the water brought the ceremony to a perfect end. As for the events themselves, several team events had their final matches today. Within the multi-purpose Siraka Stadium of Kharventhin, Giovannilandian fans celebrated as the Indoor Volleyball team won three sets to zero against United Adaikes, finishing a stellar performance throughout the tournament. The same happened with Field Hockey, in which Giovanniland tied 2-2 with Cambria on normal time, but later scored once more to make it 3-2 in extra time and win the gold medal. The opposite took place in Football, however, as the Cambric team won 1-0 and the defeated Giovannilandian team finished with silver medal—same as in the I Summer Esferiad, where Giovanniland had lost to Nieubasria. Finally, in Rugby Sevens, a close 21-19 win against Nieubasria earned the Giovannilandian team the bronze medal. As for the Gymnastics Team All-Arounds event, the athletes Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei all competed under the same team, finishing third in the finals and achieving a bronze medal. Last but not least, the Track Cycling Team Sprint event featured the pairs of Fernandino Quartiano & Vinikio Garrulo Silva, and Kristiana Hermentidio & Alessandra Kanassiro. The former duo eventually disputed the bronze medal with Mary Hadjieva & Galeem Gaismas from Hertfordshire and Jammbo (H&J) and did not succeed, while the latter one received the silver medal after being defeated by the Basric pair of Marley Duncan & Rasequin Foree in the gold medal match. In summary, the conclusion was that this Esferiad was really awesome for Team Giovanniland! After taking the lead from co-hosts Blue Bubble, our athletes increased our medal count even further, bringing it to 26 golds, 21 silvers and 22 bronzes for a total of 69 medals. Nieubasria furthered their second place lead in both rankings, coming to a total of 16 golds and 48 total medals. Meanwhile, Blue Bubble and H&J were the third-placed teams of the total and gold medal rankings respectively, Blue Bubble beating H&J in total medals 38 to 34, but barely losing in gold medals 10 to 11. As the Esferiad has now come to an end, we have updated its table of each continent's performance, sorted by gold medals, and with parentheses indicating medals gained since our previous census: Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total Aura Giovanniland 26 (+10) 21 (+8) 22 (+9) 69 (+27) Blue Bubble 11 (+1) 17 (+3) 10 (+2) 38 (+6) Orandia 3 (+1) 2 (+2) 7 (+2) 12 (+5) Santos-Dominius 2 (+1) 1 2 5 (+1) Saint Mark 1 5 5 11 Arifiyyah 1 (+1) 1 (+1) 2 (+2) 4 (+4) Fuentana 0 1 (+1) 0 1 (+1) Dilber 0 0 0 0 Aura 44 (+14) 48 (+15) 48 (+15) 140 (+44) Andolia Hertfordshire and Jammbo 12 (+5) 11 (+6) 11 (+5) 34 (+16) Larxia 3 0 7 (+1) 10 (+1) Tupmonia 1 (+1) 0 2 (+1) 3 (+2) Fhaengshia 1 0 0 1 Nagaraningrad 0 0 0 0 Andolia 17 (+6) 11 (+6) 20 (+7) 48 (+19) Polaris Nieubasria 16 (+5) 19 (+7) 13 (+6) 48 (+18) Tara and Cambray 9 (+4) 9 (+2) 5 (+2) 23 (+8) Fujai 1 1 2 (+1) 4 (+1) United Adaikes 1 (+1) 1 (+1) 2 4 (+2) Teralyon 0 1 0 1 Dalimbar 0 0 0 0 Polaris 27 (+10) 31 (+10) 22 (+9) 80 (+29) Total Aura 44 (+14) 48 (+15) 48 (+15) 140 (+44) Polaris 27 (+10) 31 (+10) 22 (+9) 80 (+29) Andolia 17 (+6) 11 (+6) 20 (+7) 48 (+19) Doll Guldur 0 0 0 0 Esferos 88 (+30) 90 (+30) 90 (+31) 268 (+91) At the end of the Esferiad, Aura continues to dominate all rankings! It has exactly half of all awarded gold medal, and slightly over half (52.24%) of total medals. Polaris solidified its lead over Andolia, which continued in third but nevertheless finished with a fair number of 48 total medals, coincidentally the same as 2nd placed nation Nieubasria. Notably, the nations of Arifiyyah and Fuentana—the two from Aura—also earned all their medals in the last five days of Esferic events, adding up to the Auran total. Moving on, we have updated our all-time medal ranking as well. Nations not participating in the II Summer Esferiad are marked in italics, while those making their international Esferic debut this edition are marked with an asterisk, just like last time. Here we go! Rank Change Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 - Nieubasria 27 30 20 77 2 - Giovanniland 27 25 24 76 3 - Hertfordshire and Jammbo 20 22 20 62 4 - Tara and Cambray 16 17 20 53 5 - Blue Bubble* 11 17 10 38 6 - Saint Mark 9 5 6 20 7 - Novasamita 8 1 2 11 8 - Zoran 7 6 12 25 9 - Fujai 5 9 7 21 10 - Teralyon 5 7 2 14 11 - Bobki 5 0 1 6 12 - Marble Mallorca 4 3 3 10 13 +2 Orandia* 3 2 7 12 14 -1 Larxia 3 1 11 15 15 -1 Irador 2 5 3 10 16 +2 Santos-Dominius* 2 1 2 5 17 - Fuentana 1 3 2 6 -2 Commonwealth of Victoria 1 3 2 6 19 +5 Arifiyyah* 1 1 2 4 +3 United Adaikes* 1 1 2 4 21 -2 Yorubrailia 1 1 0 2 22 +1 Tupmonia* 1 0 2 3 23 -3 Fhaengshia* 1 0 0 1 24 -3 Reçueçn 0 4 2 6 25 - Dalimbar* 0 0 0 0 26 - Dilber* 0 0 0 0 27 - Nagaraningrad* 0 0 0 0 Continents 1 - Aura 68 64 68 200 2 - Polaris 54 68 53 175 3 - Andolia 27 28 36 91 4 - Doll Guldur 12 4 5 21 Total 161 164 162 487 As you can see, the top 5 countries of the individual all-time rankings have stayed the same, namely Nieubasria, Giovanniland, Hertfordshire and Jammbo, Tara and Cambray, and Blue Bubble. The difference between Giovanniland and Nieubasria now stands at just one medal, with the two countries having 27 golds each, but Nieubasria having 30 silvers in comparison to Giovanniland's 25, and 20 bronzes in comparison to Giovanniland's 24. The other three countries also had significant increases in medal count during the last five days, notably H&J with an increase of 16. There was some change in rankings at the middle of the table, as countries like Orandia, Santos-Dominius, Arifiyyah, United Adaikes and Tupmonia all increased one or more position due to earning more medals. Meanwhile, in the continent rankings, it can be seen that Aura has somewhat increased its total medal lead over Polaris from 10 to 25, but nevertheless the two continents remain as the sport powerhouses of Esferos. In third place comes Andolia, which earned 19 medals since our last update, while Doll Guldur of course did not earn any medals and continues fourth. It can also be seen that Giovanniland contributes between 35 and 40 percent of Aura's total counts in all rankings, with 27/68 (39.7%) gold medals, 25/64 (39.06%) silver medals, 24/68 (35.29%) bronze medals, and 76/200 (38%) of total medals. Blue Bubble comes next, with 11/68 (16.18%) gold medals, 17/64 (26.56%) silver medals, 10/68 (14.71%) bronze medals, and 38/200 (19%) of the total. Last but not least, we present the updated version of our medal graph! As said a week ago, the columns of the graph show the medals gained each day, and the total height of each stacked column also informs that day's total. Meanwhile, the lines show our progress throughout the Esferiad, both by each medal type and the grand total. We can see some interesting information, for example that the most medals gained in a day by our team was 10 in the thirteenth day, or that our medal gain increased in the second half (40) as opposed to the first one (29). The graph can of course be seen in the web for viewers' perusal. This brings us to the end of our Esferiad Report. We hope you liked our Esferic coverage, and our channel will be happy to report on any further regional events that may come in the future. All these reports and event recordings will still be available at sportsreport.com.gl/esferiad/ii/reports and sportsreport.com.gl/esferiad/ii/events, for those who want to check them later. Thank you for enjoying the Esferiad with us!

Quorivo, Lavanda Prima, Giovanniland—08:00 AM International Atomic Time, 6th November 1421 "Wake up, everyone!", told Matteo. "The hotel breakfast is ready, and last time I stayed in the Deversorio Hortensia it was really good." It was a sunny Saturday morning, and once the blinds were opened, rays of sunlight entered the bedroom of the Settimo-Nerani family. "Ouch," complained Flavio, as he grabbed a pillow to hide the light from reaching his eyes. "Can't we wait just a bit more?" "Come on, let's go!", Angela said. "There's a lot to do today, we can't wait much more." The others then gave in, and in a few minutes were ready to go downstairs to the hotel's breakfast room, just on the right of the foyer and main entrance. There was the breakfast room. It was nicely decorated, and the family chose a table just besides a bouquet of beautifully arranged violet flowers. "Let's see what the breakfast is today," thought Flavio. "Hmm, some grapes, bananas, melons, oranges, apples, watermelons... I'll take an orange and a slice of melon," said Angela. "Those sandwiches surely do look nice," noted Augusto. "I think that's what I'll eat today." "And wow, these chocolate and passion fruit pies look very beautiful! I don't think these existed last time I was here, so I'll taste some of it." After getting their breakfast, the family sat down in the table and started eating. More and more people entered the room and time passed; the breakfast room would close at 10:30 AM. As Angela finished eating the fruits, something caught her attention. There was a pile of several newspapers and magazines just to the right of the table. One with flashy crimson letters said "Quotidiano Quorivano". It was from the 1st of November, almost a week before, but nevertheless Angela chose to read it. The headline was particularly notable—Interview: Giovannilandian Athletes Sweep the 110m Hurdles Podium. "This interview looks very interesting," thought Angela as she finished reading. "There have been other Giovannilandian podium sweeps since that one, but nevertheless it seems those four athletes are now well celebrated for the first one ever. Could there be another one today...? There must be a reason I happened to see this newspaper just today." "Ooh, looks interesting," remarked Flavio. "Can I read it?" Angela agreed, and her younger son started reading. Just after that, Matteo asked everyone: "So, which events are we watching today?" "I think it would be interesting to watch something different today, what about Road Cycling Time Trial? The Via Firkella Herennio isn't that far from this hotel, we just need to drive a bit to the south," proposed Angela. "Nice idea, when does it start?" asked Augusto. "We need to go to the Stadio Sferiko Rege Giovanni VI to watch the Giovanniland v. Nieubasria football semifinal later today..." "Oh, the road cycling event starts at 13:30 PM, we should able to lunch, watch this event, and then go to that stadium at 16:00 PM to watch the football game," said Matteo. "I like this plan!", Flavio agreed. The family then finished breakfast, stayed on the hotel for a while, and then got ready for lunch and for the road cycling event. Via Firkella Herennio, Quorivo, Giovanniland—13:00 PM International Atomic Time, 6th November 1421 "So, we've finally arrived!", exclaimed Angela. "Indeed, let's take our seats," told Matteo. The family had reserved some seats just before the starting point, so that they could also see the athletes starting and ending. The event soon started, and athletes raced alone as they were sent out in intervals, instead of a mass start. An Esferiad official announced the name of each cyclist in alphabetical order and gave them a heads up so they could prepare. Giovannilandians applauded as the nation's athletes started: Manuella Violetone, Priskilla Linare-Vitale, Tadeo Remo Bellieno and Umberto Hibernio. It was a lengthy road, although a screen displayed updates of where the athletes were. After one hour, they started to come back. Another screen updated the rankings as they finished. Soon, the official announced the first Giovannilandian athlete to come back: "And Manuella Violetone has just finished, with a time of one hour, five minutes and twenty-five seconds!" "Second place, very good," said Angela. "The first place at the moment, Ian Froome from Cambria, came just twenty seconds faster than her," added Matteo. The family then cheered even more as Priskilla Linare-Vitale finished 1:03:05, two minutes faster than the previous first-place, and took the lead of the podium. But just a few moments later, they were even more impressed as Tadeo Remo Bellieno had outdone his fellow colleague with a time of 1:02:20. "I think this is the prelude for a podium sweep," thought Flavio. And in fact he was right, as Umberto Hibernio then finished with a time of 1:04:18, and the first three places were dominated by Giovanniland. The family was very happy when the last athlete of the competition arrived, and the podium sweep was confirmed. The medal ceremony was staged right there on the open cycling road, a few speakers displaying the Giovannilandian anthem as three copies of the beautiful national flag were hoisted at once. "Woohoo!", said Matteo. "I think the event has ended now, and it's almost 15:00 PM so we should get ready to go into the football stadium." Angela thought to herself. "So there was in fact going to be a podium sweep... my prediction was correct! I feel like more lucky things are about to happen..." The family then left their seats near the Via Firkella Herennio and went to the Stadio Sferiko Rege Giovanni VI. Stadio Sferiko Rege Giovanni VI, Quorivo, Giovanniland—15:30 PM International Atomic Time, 6th November 1421 The family entered the stadium and found their four seats after some time. "This stadium is beautiful, those purple seats and fields really evoke the common violet and lavender fields here," thought Angela. "This is way more crowded than the road cycling event, I guess Giovannilandians just like football more," noted Augusto. "There are many Basrians here as well, I think in total there are 50 thousand people already," said Matteo. "What's the total capacity?" "Should be 90 thousand, I know it's nearly the same capacity as the Arena Abrentana in Giovannia, which has 95 thousand," said Flavio. "After all, this stadium was a new one built for the Esferiad, bears His Majesty's name, and will host the gold medal match, so it must have a lot of capacity," remarked Angela. The game was about to start, with the Giovannilandian squad the same as the last match. Nieubasria's team was also nearly the same, but without Earc Velding, due to the unfortunate death that happened during the 1st World Cup of Football. One of the referees then called the two captains and flipped a coin to decide the starting team. The Giovannilandian captain's choice allowed the home team to start. The two teams then each looked for opportunities to attack, in a match that was shaping up to be very even. "Our team is playing against the champion of the 1st World Cup, after all, the same team that also defeated us during the football gold medal match of the Saint-Josalyn Summer Esferiad," noted Angela. After nearly half of the first match without many goals, Giovannilandian striker Pietro Takeda finally opened the score on the 25th minute, aided by attacking midfielder Giustiniano Nottua-Glabrio and striker Klementina de Abreo-Florino. The Giovannilandian fans then cheered. However, the advantage would not last long, as in the 32nd minute Camdyn Cartwrighte from Nieubasria would make the score even again, after the Giovannilandian goalkeeper Klaudio Spindola caught an initial attempt but could not stop a second try. "It's the player that received the 1st World Cup's Golden Ball award after all," thought Matteo. That was it for the first half, with no other noteworthy happenings. "How do you think the match will end, family?", asked Flavio. "I think it could go into extra time, or maybe even penalty shootouts," wondered Angela. "But I hope we can win." The second half saw Giovanniland switch center midfield Gabriella Orfeo with striker Ottavio Laquo-Tertulli, as the team hoped to increase its attacking style. However, none of the scoring attempts succeeded. In fact, the opposite happened: in the 63rd minute Edric Graemes from Nieubasria scored, leaving the Giovannilandians with a losing score of 1-2. The following half hour was tough for Giovannilandian fans, as several opportunities were created but none succeeded. Outside back Sergio Feragi Faustiano and captain Lorentio Santo-Ferrari even hit the goalpost, while Gustavo Zapata had two strikes blocked by the Basric goalkeeper. The referee gave four minutes of stoppage time, during a nailbiting moment for the family and other Giovannilandians in the stadium. But finally, when hope seemed gone, striker Ottavio Laquo-Tertulli finally scored the equalizer goal that would bring the score into 2-2 and the game into extra time. "I guess the change at half time did pay off," said Augusto. The family then watched the two halves of extra time as the ball flew across the field but did not enter any of the goals. "Penalty shootout it is," noted Matteo. The two teams then chose their best players to take the five initial penalties for each team. Some minutes later, four penalties had been taken for each team and all were successful. Teodoro Sonserina, Gabriella Orfeo, Pietro Takeda, and Klementina de Abreo-Florino all scored for Giovanniland; while Camdyn Cartwrighte, Huxley Townsende, Holden Sudworthe and Landan Aylmere did so for Nieubasria. It was then the final two penalties of the initial round, if both teams succeeded then it would go into sudden death. Gustavo Zapata took the one for Giovanniland; it was a strike that hit the top right part of the net, with no chance for the Basric goalkeeper. Then it was the Basric striker Edric Graemes' turn. Once it was seen that the strike hit the left goalpost and failed to enter, both the Giovannilandian team and fans cheered as a place during the gold medal match was guaranteed. The Settimo-Nerani family was happy as well. "Yay, congrats Giovanniland!", said Flavio. "Do we know the team we'll face in the next match?" "Looks like it is, hmm... Cambria," answered Matteo. "They had a convincing 2-0 win against Arifiyyah." "Their goalkeeper is really one of the best, very few times I've seen a strike pass through him," noted Augusto. "Indeed," said Angela. "In the previous Esferiad we came to the final but lost to Nieubasria, the same country we defeated now, so hopefully we can get the gold medal for football this time." The family then left the Stadio Sferiko Rege Giovanni VI, soon driving back to the Deversorio Hortensia. Just like the previous day, a traditional Lavandulan dinner awaited them. Then it was sleep time, as the family planned to watch some of the events in the last day of the Esferiad, hopefully including the Closing Ceremony at Kharventhin.

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 13th Day 24 Gold - 19 Silver - 20 Bronze Hello there! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. Yesterday was a wonderful day for our nation, as it beat the record of 7 medals set in the 4th and 11th days, and surpassed it for a total of 10! Just like Blue Bubble's performance in the 2nd day that also earned them 10 medals, that is the most medals a nation has gained in a single day. Three golds, four silvers and three bronzes were earned yesterday, and I'll of course talk about the events that made this possible and the other ones as well. Starting with Kharventhin, two events with Giovannilandian participation happened there. One of them was Shortboard Surfing, featuring Giovannilandian athletes Yolanda Fagundi-Torio, Italo Helvio-Rossi, and Benditto Kervariani. All of them advanced to the quarterfinals, but then Italo was eliminated at that stage. Yolanda and Benditto then met at the semifinals, the former going to the gold medal game and the latter to the bronze medal one. Then, Benditto won against Xolani Kariuki from Blue Bubble and earned a bronze medal, while Yolanda lost to Phoebe Aishi-Smith from Santos-Dominius but nevertheless achieved a silver medal. The other event was Indoor Volleyball, in which we defeated our neighbors Blue Bubble at their own home three sets to one, and will now play against United Adaikes in the final. In Quorivo, seven events happened. In the semifinals of Field Hockey and Football, both Giovannilandian teams met the respective Basric ones, and two very close matches with almost the same scores happened. Both of them saw each team score twice in normal time, then no changes at extra time, and then a penalty shootout happen to decide the winner. The Giovannilandian football team won the shootout 5-4, while the field hockey one also did win but with a score of 4-3. Funnily enough, both teams will now face Cambria in the fight for gold, and both Cambric teams had won against the Arifiyyah ones to arrive in the gold medal match. What a strange coincidence! Anyways, for the finals, we'll see if an Astorian revenge or a Giovannilandian triumph (or both!) happen—vote in our daily poll to let your opinion be known! Meanwhile, in the Rugby Sevens semifinals, Giovanniland sadly lost 12-24 to United Adaikes, but can still win a medal, as it will face Nieubasria in the bronze medal match. Moving on to individual events, Road Cycling Time Trial saw the participation of Umberto Hibernio, Priskilla Linare-Vitale, Manuella Violetone, and Tadeo Remo Bellieno. Giovanniland dominated the podium, with Tadeo, Priskilla and Umberto ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively! As for the Track Cycling Individual Sprint, the athletes Alessandra Kanassiro, Vinikio Garrulo Silva, Kristiana Hermentidio, and Fernandino Quartiano participated. Alessandra and Fernandino failed to advance past the quarterfinals, finishing 7th and 8th, while Vinicius and Cristiane faced each other in the semifinals. Kristiana then went on to the final and earned a silver medal after losing to Seiya Nikolov from H&J, while Vinikio did not get any medal as he lost to Lucy Collins from Nieubasria. Furthermore, two gymnastics events happened today besides the cycling ones. Gymnastics Vault and Individual All-Arounds both featured the athletes Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei. Romeo and Isayas performed very well in both, the former setting a new Vault record and of course winning gold, and the latter achieving bronze. The tables turned for the individual all-arounds, as Isayas came first due to excellent performances in Balance Beam and Rings, finishing with 48 points, whereas Romeo's great Vault performance and good scores in the other events gave him 42 points and a silver medal. After our retrospective, we will talk about the events in the last matchday of the Esferiad. Yes, it's already coming to an end, but there are still many Giovannilandian athletes to watch in the last day! In Kharventhin, our delegation will be present at the Closing Ceremony, while the Indoor Volleyball team will participate in the finals. There are also the Kayak-1 200 m Sprint, Badminton Doubles, and Fencing Sabre events, but no athletes from our nation will be playing. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Track Cycling Team Sprint featuring the pairs of Fernandino Quartiano & Vinikio Garrulo Silva and Kristiana Hermentidio & Alessandra Kanassiro; Gymnastics Team All-Arounds featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; Finals of Field Hockey, Football, and Rugby Sevens (team events); That is the schedule for the fourteenth and last day of Esferic events! You can watch them on the channels 201 to 210, and for members of our monthly subscription, and I also hope to see you tomorrow for another report.

Dazano, Lavanda Prima, Giovanniland—13:20 PM International Atomic Time, 5th November 1421 The Settimo-Nerani family had just finished their lunch for the day, after the two brothers Augusto and Flavio had a busy day of class at high school. "I've got all of our things ready for our trip to Quorivo for this weekend," told Matteo to his wife Angela. "Do you as well, darling?" "Yes," she answered. "I'll call the children. Augusto, Flavio, let's go!" Augusto was of course playing a game in his phone, while Flavio was reading the second part of the Lord of the Necklaces trilogy, but the two wanted to watch some Esferic events again so they quickly went to the car. "Today we'll travel the same 50 kilometers between Dazano and Quorivo, but without stopping for lunch, so it should hopefully take less time for us to arrive," thought Matteo. "An hour and a half or so," said Angela. The family took a different, less crowded route this time, as there were many Giovannilandians traveling to Quorivo to see some of the games in the final matchdays. It was commonly known as the Palm Tree Road, due to the common occurrence of these trees, and passed west through Medottone and then north to Quorivo instead of the traditional Uryde route. "This landscape is very beautiful indeed," thought Flavio to himself. In 40 minutes they were at Medottone, driving through the downtown of the city with around 100,000 inhabitants, and passing near the Perkurso Mallisfere Medottoni, the Golf Course of Medottone. "Look, the golf competition is happening right now! I can see our athletes Vanessa Desniana, Norberto Merenda-Ferrari, and Leandro Gilvano-Andrea," remarked Angela. "Hopefully they're performing well, I wish we could watch this as well," said Flavio. "Same, but then we wouldn't have time to watch the upcoming football match against Dilber," noted Augusto. "Yeah... let's give goodbye to them and continue our journey!", told Matteo. Quorivo, Lavanda Prima, Giovanniland—15:00 PM International Atomic Time, 5th November 1421 Another 40 minutes and they arrived at Quorivo. The Stadio Lidoborano, in which the Giovanniland v. Dilber game would happen, was on the western part of the city. It would start at 15:30 PM, so the family had arrived half an hour earlier. Many seats were already occupied by Giovannilandians, Dilberians, and some football fans from other countries. The referee then called the two captains, including Lorentio Santo-Ferrari from Giovanniland, and flipped a coin to decide the team that was going to start. Then the game started, with the two teams looking for opportunities and fiercely attacking each other. The Giovannilandian squad was using a 3-3-4, after all. "I think our team should quickly make a goal or two, and then defend for the rest of the game, since the Dilberians are known to purely attack," thought Augusto. And indeed that happened. Striker Gustavo Zapata scored Giovanniland's first and only goal of the match with only 10 minutes in, although during the rest of the first half many failed opportunities from both sides also happened. It was a very dynamic and active game, and the family watched closely. During the second half, however, a change in pace of the game then ensued, as Giovannilandians switched to defense—striker Klementina de Abreo-Florino was replaced by center back Tommaso Laruta, who also had played in the 1st World Cup of Football. "Ugh, this is turning into something pretty boring," said Augusto some minutes in. "I wish this could also be like some other matches, such as our 3-0 against Tupmonia or 3-1 against United Adaikes." "Actually," remarked Flavio, "I think this is a good strategy. Giovanniland will face either Fujai or Nieubasria in the semifinals, and it's good to save some stamina." "Looks like Nieubasria, they're winning 3-0," added Matteo. "Fair enough," said Augusto. The rest of second half was pretty uneventful, although at the end of the match, the family and the other Giovannilandian fans were happy to see the team win. "Hurray! I just researched, looks like Giovanniland has also won in other team events like field hockey, rugby sevens, and indoor volleyball," told Augusto. "Don't forget handball!", replied Angela. "Our team has just won the gold medal by 29-27 in a close match against Nieubasria." "I wish we could've watched that as well, sadly it started half an hour earlier than this football match and finished a while ago now," thought Matteo. Quorivo, Lavanda Prima, Giovanniland—17:30 PM International Atomic Time, 5th November 1421 The family then left the Stadio Lidoborano, soon driving to the Deversorio Hortensia (a Giovannese name meaning Hydrangea Hotel). It was a comfortable but not very expensive hotel in Quorivo, and had some nice hydrangea flowers around the building for decoration, therefore giving it the name. A traditional Lavandulan dinner awaited them, and for the rest of the evening they watched the recording of other events, such as the Gymnastics Rings event in which Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio and Lukiano Annabella-Tappone had achieved gold and bronze medals for the nation respectively. They all awaited for the next day, yet to decide the events to watch and other things to do in Quorivo. "Let's think about that tomorrow," told Matteo and Angela. "Good night all!" "Good night," Augusto and Flavio repeated in unison, and everyone in the family went to sleep.

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 12th Day 21 Gold - 15 Silver - 17 Bronze Good morning Giovanniland! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report, and today I'll talk about the Esferic events as usual—reviewing the ones that happened yesterday, and then briefly talk about the ones starting soon today. Giovanniland earned 4 medals yesterday and crossed the 50 medal milestone, so there's lots to talk about! Just like the previous matchday, the only Kharventhin event with Giovannilandian participation was Indoor Volleyball, in which a close match against Dalimbar with sets of 26-24, 25-14, 18-25, 24-26 and a tiebreak of 15-11 gave our team the victory. The semifinal match will now be against our Blue Bubble neighbors! Knockout stages for other team events also happened today—for example, the Giovannilandian Field Hockey team went past Hertfordshire and Jammbo with a 5-3 score, the Football one beat Dilber 1-0, and the Rugby Sevens one won 24-12 against Cambria. Both the Field Hockey and Football teams will meet Nieubasria in the semifinals, while the Rugby Sevens one will play against United Adaikes. Furthermore, two other team events also had their final matches take place yesterday. The Handball game saw Giovanniland win against Nieubasria with a very close score of 29-27. As for the Lacrosse team, after they lost the semifinal in a close match against Nieubasria, they fought Dalimbar in the bronze medal match and won with a score of 18-6! These two sports each gave Giovanniland one medal, while the two other medals from the day came from the Gymnastics Rings event featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei. Isayas, Lukiano and Romeo all advanced to the final, and were ranked 1st, 3rd and 6th respectively! And even though Romeo did not win a medal, he did set a new Esferic record of 16.500 in the semifinals, so congratulations to all these athletes. Two other events also happened in Quorivo with Giovannilandian participation. The first one was Mountain Biking, featuring Tamara Altada Linario, Antonietta Arruntio Kandido, and Margerita Fernando-Vittoriani. None of them reached the podium, but Tamara and Margerita came very close, finishing 4th and 5th with times of 2:00:58 and 2:01:22 respectively! Sadly, Antonietta did not manage to finish, but all mountain bikers performed well nevertheless. The other was Golf, which featured Vanessa Desniana, Norberto Merenda-Ferrari, and Leandro Gilvano-Andrea. Vanessa, a known athlete and this program's former main reporter, finished in 6th place with a score of 77 (note that smaller scores are better in golf). Meanwhile, Leandro and Norberto both tied for 15th place in the end, with a score of 82. With two matchdays left in the Esferiad, we continue our program by talking about future events! In Kharventhin, Giovannilandian athletes Yolanda Fagundi-Torio, Italo Helvio-Rossi, and Benditto Kervariani will appear in Shortboard Surfing, and our team will appear in the Semifinals of Indoor Volleyball. The other Kharventhin events, namely Canoe-1 Slalom, Boxing Heavyweight, and Badminton Doubles events, do not have participation from our nation. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Semifinals of Field Hockey, Football, and Rugby Sevens (team events); Road Cycling Time Trial featuring Umberto Hibernio, Priskilla Linare-Vitale, Manuella Violetone, and Tadeo Remo Bellieno; Track Cycling Individual Sprint featuring Alessandra Kanassiro, Vinikio Garrulo Silva, Kristiana Hermentidio, and Fernandino Quartiano; Gymnastics Vault and Individual All-Arounds featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; That is the schedule for the thirteenth day of Esferic events! You can watch them on the channels 201 to 210, and for members of our monthly subscription, we also have recordings in our website if one isn't able to check them live. See you tomorrow for another report!

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 11th Day 19 Gold - 15 Silver - 15 Bronze Good morning Giovanniland! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. I'll start by saying that Giovanniland earned a total of 7 medals, tying the record set in the 4th Day, and even better is the fact that three of those were gold medals as well! I'll talk about the events that made this possible and the other ones too. In Kharventhin, the only event with Giovannilandian participation was Indoor Volleyball, in which the team won against Larxia three sets to zero, and finished the group stage with a total of 18 points. This has of course earned Giovanniland a place in the quarterfinals, where the team will face Dalimbar. Other team events happened in Quorivo, with other group stages also coming to an end. In Field Hockey, our team drew 2-2 with Nieubasria and finished 3rd in Group A, with an upcoming duel against Hertfordshire & Jammbo. Football also saw Giovanniland advance to the knockout stage, finishing strong with a 3-1 win over United Adaikes; the Giovannilandians will now meet the Dilberians in the quarterfinals. Finally, the Rugby Sevens group stage also ended yesterday. Giovanniland beat Nieubasria 26-20 to qualify, and will now play against Cambria next. At the same time, other team sports had their semifinals happen yesterday. One of them was Handball, in which the Giovannilandians won 26-22 against the Larxians and earned a place in the gold medal match, to play against Nieubasria tomorrow. Another was Lacrosse, in this sport Giovanniland was defeated by Nieubasria with a score of 11-9, and will now fight against Dalimbar for the bronze medal. Finally, the Track Team All-Arounds and Field Team All-Arounds competitions also happened and featured all Giovannilandian participants of athletic events. Our nation was very strong in these two events, winning with scores of 125 and 194 respectively, and bringing two more gold medals home—for those wondering how this event works, teams are ranked by performance across various events, with 10 points for each event's first place, 9 points for second place, and so on. Three individual events also happened in Quorivo. Gymnastics Parallel Bars featured Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; with Isayas, Romeo and Lukiano all qualifying for the final. Isaias finished 3rd, thus achieving a place in the podium! In the Stage 2 of Badminton Singles, Lorena Sulimano and Kesar Kuriato-Giakini both met in the semifinals, with Lorena winning the match. Lorena then lost the final to Afeeq Nasrullah from Arifiyyah, while Kesar did not manage to earn the bronze medal, as he was defeated by Chia Jun An, also from Arifiyyah. Finally, in the BMX Cycling event, the athletes Stefano Lavandula-Quorivo, Paloma Alboquerko, and Liana Vagellio all participated. They dominated the finals and finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively, bringing Giovanniland three medals and a podium sweep—an awesome performance! With three matchdays left in the Esferiad, we continue our program by talking about future events! In Kharventhin, Giovannilandian athletes will only appear in the Quarterfinals of Indoor Volleyball, as the nation did not enter any athlete for the Kayak-1 200 m Sprint, Karate Kumite and Boxing Heavyweight events. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Golf featuring Vanessa Desniana (our former reporter!), Norberto Merenda-Ferrari, and Leandro Gilvano-Andrea; Mountain Biking featuring Tamara Altada Linario, Antonietta Arruntio Kandido, and Margerita Fernando-Vittoriani; Gymnastics Rings featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; Finals of Handball and Lacrosse, as well as Quarterfinals of Field Hockey, Football, and Rugby Sevens (team events); That is the schedule for the twelfth day of Esferic events! You can watch them on the channels 201 to 210, and for members of our monthly subscription, we also have recordings in our website. See you tomorrow for another report!

Also, the account https://www.westpacific.org/forums/index.php?/profile/2423-roterdamia likely seems to have been hacked, they posted some nasty spam which I deleted from public view but thought it'd be good to let admins know so as to take further action if needed. EDIT: Same with https://www.westpacific.org/forums/index.php?/profile/2523-daniel/

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 10th Day 16 Gold - 13 Silver - 13 Bronze Good morning Giovanniland! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. There's lot to talk about today, especially since Giovanniland continues its streak of earning many medals and today has brought two golds, one silver and one bronze, staying at the top of all medal rankings. Of course, we'll review the events of yesterday and talk about the upcoming ones, starting with Kharventhin. There were few events with Giovannilandian participation in Kharventhin, only two team events. In the Matchday 5 of Indoor Volleyball, Giovanniland showed a strong performance against Fhaengshia and contines unbeaten at the top of Group B. As for the gold medal match of Water Polo, Giovanniland beat Hertfordshire and Jammbo with a score of 11-6, bringing the first gold from a team sport. It's worth noting Giovanniland got many of its seven medals of the I Summer Esferiad in team sports, and continues to perform well at them in home soil, so let's hope the teams bring home many more medals! It was a more eventful in Quorivo, with Giovanniland getting three medals in these events. The gold came from the Marathon, specifically from Klementine Ulpia, who finished the run after two hours, eleven minutes and eight seconds, while Katia Terra finished 5th and Sergio Maldonato-Violeta finished 6th. In the Javelin Throw, athletes Raffella Ulisse Tavallano, Augusto Glendoriani, and Sebastiano Remedio all competed, with Augusto achieving 3rd place and a bronze medal, as Raffella and Sebastiano finished 6th and 7th respectively. The other athletics events was Gymnastics Uneven Bars featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; only Isaias reached the final but ended 6th of 8 athletes. The Badminton Singles had its first stage take place today, and the good news for Giovanniland is that Lorena Sulimano and Kesar Kuriato-Giakini have both qualified for the quarterfinals! Kyra Sonserina also participated, but did not get past group stage. In team sports, the last matchdays for Handball and Lacrosse, and Giovanniland won against United Adaikes in both, namely with scores of 31-24 and 18-5. Furthermore the Field Hockey, Football, and Rugby Sevens matches all resulted in wins for Giovanniland as well: 2-0 against Dalimbar, 3-0 against Tupmonia, and 33-7 against Fhaengshia respectively! Last but not least, the Giovannilandian Basketball faced Cambria in the gold medal match—it was a very close game, but our team eventually lost 67-84 to the Cambrians, with strong performances on both sides nevertheless. All in all, we can say that the 10th day was a pretty good one for our nation! Giovanniland continues on the lead in both gold and total medal rankings. Our neighbors Blue Bubble remain in second for total medals (32), although they have been surpassed in Nieubasria by gold medals, Blue Bubble with 10 and Nieubasria with 11 specifically. Other strong teams have been Hertfordshire and Jammbo, with 7 golds and 18 medals; and Cambria, with 5 golds and 15 medals. Anyways, since we're 2/3 of the way in the Esferiad, the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report has decided to update its table of each continent's performance, sorted by gold medals, and with parentheses indicating medals gained since our previous census: Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total Aura Giovanniland 16 (+9) 13 (+8) 13 (+6) 42 (+23) Blue Bubble 10 (+3) 14 (+3) 8 (+1) 32 (+7) Orandia 2 (+1) 0 5 (+4) 7 (+5) Saint Mark 1 5 (+3) 5 11 (+3) Santos-Dominius 1 1 (+1) 2 (+1) 4 (+2) Arifiyyah 0 0 0 0 Dilber 0 0 0 0 Fuentana 0 0 0 0 Aura 30 (+13) 33 (+15) 33 (+12) 96 (+40) Andolia Hertfordshire and Jammbo 7 (+1) 5 (+2) 6 (+2) 18 (+5) Larxia 3 (+1) 0 6 (+3) 9 (+4) Fhaengshia 1 (+1) 0 0 1 (+1) Tupmonia 0 0 1 (+1) 1 (+1) Nagaraningrad 0 0 0 0 Andolia 11 (+3) 5 (+2) 13 (+6) 29 (+11) Polaris Nieubasria 11 (+7) 12 (+6) 7 (+4) 30 (+17) Tara and Cambray 5 (+3) 7 (+4) 3 (+2) 15 (+9) Fujai 1 1 (+1) 1 (+1) 3 (+2) Teralyon 0 1 0 1 United Adaikes 0 0 2 (+1) 2 (+1) Dalimbar 0 0 0 0 Polaris 17 (+10) 21 (+11) 13 (+8) 51 (+29) Total Aura 30 (+13) 33 (+15) 33 (+12) 96 (+40) Polaris 17 (+10) 21 (+11) 13 (+8) 51 (+29) Andolia 11 (+3) 5 (+2) 13 (+6) 29 (+11) Doll Guldur 0 0 0 0 Esferos 58 (+26) 59 (+28) 59 (+26) 176 (+80) As we can see, Aura continues to dominate all rankings, with over half of both gold (54.55%) and total (51.72%) of awarded medals going to Auran athletes. It also earned exactly half of all medals given since our last review. Polaris has advanced to second, spearheaded by the neighbor nations of Nieubasria and Cambria, and built a fair lead over Andolia—the two continents have 17 and 11 gold medals, and 51 and 29 total medals respectively. Notably, competing nations Fhaengshia and Tupmonia have earned their first medal in the last 5 days as well, so congratulations to them! We also have something new, namely an all-time medal ranking, sorted by gold medals too. Note that nations not participating in the II Summer Esferiad are marked in italics, while those making their international Esferic debut this edition are marked with an asterisk. Here we go! Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 Nieubasria 22 23 14 59 2 Giovanniland 17 17 15 49 3 Hertfordshire and Jammbo 15 16 15 46 4 Tara and Cambray 12 15 18 45 5 Blue Bubble* 10 14 8 32 6 Saint Mark 9 5 6 20 7 Novasamita 8 1 2 11 8 Zoran 7 6 12 25 9 Fujai 5 9 6 20 10 Teralyon 5 7 2 14 11 Bobki 5 0 1 6 12 Marble Mallorca 4 3 3 10 13 Larxia 3 1 10 14 14 Irador 2 5 3 10 15 Orandia* 2 0 5 7 16 Commonwealth of Victoria 1 3 2 6 17 Fuentana 1 2 2 5 18 Santos-Dominius* 1 1 2 4 19 Yorubrailia 1 1 0 2 20 Fhaengshia* 1 0 0 1 21 Reçueçn 0 4 2 6 22 United Adaikes* 0 0 2 2 23 Tupmonia* 0 0 1 1 24 Arifiyyah* 0 0 0 0 25 Dalimbar* 0 0 0 0 26 Dilber* 0 0 0 0 27 Nagaraningrad* 0 0 0 0 Continents 1 Aura 54 49 53 156 2 Polaris 44 58 44 146 3 Andolia 21 22 29 72 4 Doll Guldur 12 4 5 21 Total 131 133 131 395 In the individual all-time rankings, it can be seen that the top 5 countries—Nieubasria, Giovanniland, Hertfordshire and Jammbo, Tara and Cambray, and Blue Bubble—have all had over 10 gold medals so far across both editions, with the 2nd to 4th countries pretty close to each other. Nieubasria, Hertfordshire and Jammbo, Tara and Cambray all have had good performances in both Esferiads so far, while for Giovanniland, who sent a small delegation last time, most medals have been earned during the current Esferiad. Finally, closing the top 5, we have Blue Bubble, that has made an awesome debut in the Esferiad this year. As for continent rankings, it can be seen that Aura and Polaris are the sporting powerhouses of Esferos. Polaris dominated the I Summer Esferiad of Saint-Josalyn, while Aura has been dominating the II Summer Esferiad of Quorivo and Kharventhin, and in the end the two performances of each almost even out—Aura and Polaris only have a difference of 10 in both gold and total medals. Home advantage could also be seen as a factor, especially since the continent hosting each Esferiad has been the one prevailing in that edition, although two events is a pretty small sample. In third comes Andolia, with a decent amount of 21 gold medals and 72 total, while in last comes Doll Guldur, from which two countries participated in the I Summer Esferiad (earning 12 gold and 21 total medals) but none in the second. Following these statistics, it's now time to talk about future events, and there are many of them tomorrow! In Kharventhin, Giovannilandian athletes will only appear in the Matchday 6 of Indoor Volleyball, as the nation did not enter any athlete for the Canoe-2 1000 m Sprint, Karate Kumite and Fencing Foil events. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Track Team All-Arounds and Field Team All-Arounds featuring all Giovannilandian participants of athletic events; BMX Cycling featuring Paloma Alboquerko, Stefano Lavandula-Quorivo, and Liana Vagellio; Finals of Badminton Singles featuring Lorena Sulimano and Kesar Kuriato-Giakini; Gymnastics Parallel Bars featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; Semifinals of Handball, Semifinals of Lacrosse, Matchday 5 of Field Hockey, Matchday 5 of Football, and Matchday 5 of Rugby Sevens (team events); That is the schedule for the eleventh day of Esferic events! See you tomorrow for another report.

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 9th Day 14 Gold - 12 Silver - 12 Bronze Hello again, Giovannilandians! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. Today I'll talk about the results in the 9th day of Esferic events and Giovannilandian highlights, and in fact, there were many last day as Giovanniland secured two of each medal today, for a total of 38 across the entire events. We'll first talk about yesterday's events in Kharventhin! The final matches of Freestyle Wrestling featured Gilmar Opiternio-Sousa, Ulisse Yanseno, and Silvia Kolumella. Gilmar defeated Serlia to earn a place in the final, while Ulisse was defeated by Florentino Luis from Larxia in the other semifinal, who then also defeated Gilmar in the final. Luckily, Serlia and Ulisse both won their matches in the repechage bracket, meaning that they each got a bronze medal while Gilmar achieved silver. Meanwhile, in the semifinals of Water Polo our team defeated the Larxians 8-5 and will now face Hertfordshire and Jammbo in the final, while the Indoor Volleyball team won three sets to one against Tupmonia and continues undefeated at the top of Group B. Those were all the events that happened in Kharventhin with Giovannilandian participation, but there were of course many more in Quorivo! In the Hammer Throw event, athletes Guillermo Vindemia-Tamudio, Karlo Kadrino-Kosta, and Emilio Mariano-Visellio all participated. They qualified for the finals and then finished 1st, 2nd and 4th respectively, with Guillermo setting a new Esferic record and the others all breaking the previous one as well, a strong Giovannilandian performance. As for the Gymnastics Balance Beam, it featured Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei. Isayas and Romeo advanced to the final, placing 1st and 6th respectively and earning the nation another gold medal. Meanwhile, team events also happened in Quorivo. Wins came for Giovanniland in Basketball, in which our team defeatd Nieubasria 79-58 in the semifinals and will now face Cambria in the gold medal match, and in Matchday 3 of Field Hockey, with our team winning 3-1 against Cambria. Losses also happened, however, for example 0-1 to Fujai in Football and 17-21 to Dalimbar in Rugby Sevens. Last but not least, the Handball and Lacrosse teams both had byes. After the quick retrospective, it's now time to talk about upcoming events! In Kharventhin, Giovannilandian athletes will only appear in the Matchday 5 of Indoor Volleyball and the Final of Water Polo, as the nation did not enter any athlete for the Fencing Foil and Boxing Lightweight events will also happen. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Marathon featuring Katia Terra, Klementine Ulpia, and Sergio Maldonato-Violeta; Javelin Throw featuring Raffella Ulisse Tavallano, Augusto Glendoriani, and Sebastiano Remedio; Stage 1 of Badminton Singles featuring Lorena Sulimano, Kesar Kuriato-Giakini, and Kyra Sonserina; Gymnastics Uneven Bars featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; Final of Basketball, Matchday 6 of Handball, Matchday 6 of Lacrosse, Matchday 4 of Field Hockey, Matchday 4 of Football, and Matchday 4 of Rugby Sevens (team events); That is the schedule for the tenth day of Esferic events! You can watch them on the channels 201 to 210, and for members of our monthly subscription, we also have recordings in our website sportsreport.com.gl/esferiad/ii/events if one isn't able to check them live. See you tomorrow for another report!

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 8th Day 12 Gold - 10 Silver - 10 Bronze Hello again, Giovannilandians! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. Today I'll talk about the results in the 8th day of Esferic events and Giovannilandian highlights, as well as present the upcoming events for the next day. Firstly, we'll talk about yesterday's events in Kharventhin! Firstly, the Swimming Team All-Around! The Giovannilandian team, composed of all athletes that entered a swimming competition, achieved the highest score of 94 points and thus earned a gold medal. In this event, teams were ranked by performance across various events, with 10 points for each event's first place, 9 points for second place, and so on. Another event with a medal for Giovanniland was the final of Beach Volleyball, in which Alessander Elessiano-Savora & Elisabetta Santi played against Olukayode Pinho & Imaculada Ventura from Blue Bubble. It was a close match and the Giovannilandians sadly lost the tie-break, but second place is a very good performance as well. Meanwhile, in Matchday 3 of Indoor Volleyball, Giovanniland had another win in which the team dominated all sets, this time against Larxia. What a strong showing so far! As for the other team event of Kharventhin, Giovanniland won 10-6 against Nieubasria in the Water Polo Quarterfinals and will face Larxia in the semifinals. Finally, in the first stage of Freestyle Wrestling, it was a lucky day for Giovannilandian athletes as all three of Gilmar Opiternio-Sousa, Ulisse Yanseno, and Silvia Kolumella advanced to the semifinals. Gilmar and Serlia will face each other, while Ulisse will fight against Florentino Luis from Larxia, meaning that Giovanniland has already guaranteed at least two medals—we'll see tomorrow which ones! Many more events took place in Quorivo, several of them team events. In the final match of Baseball, Giovanniland sadly lost 8-10 to Nieubasria in a close match, but the Giovannilandians' strong performance nevertheless earned them a silver medal. Basketball teams faced each other in the quarterfinals, and for Giovanniland this was a 83-67 win against the fellow Auran team of Arifiyyah. Giovanniland also played against Arifiyyah in Field Hockey and Football, resulting in a 0-3 loss in the former and a 2-0 win in the latter. The football squad's performance was anticipated by many fans, with most players from the 1st World Cup also competing—Lorentio Santo-Ferrari and Pietro Takeda each scored one goal in the match. As for Handball and Lacrosse, Giovanniland met Dalimbar in both matches yesterday and won both, with scores of 29-22 and 9-8 respectively. Meanwhile, in Giovanniland's first match of Rugby Sevens, the team lost 12-26 to Cambria and now stands at the bottom of the group. Finally, the other event in Quorivo was Gymnastics Floor Exercise. It featured gymnasts Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei. Silvana failed to advance past the qualifiers, while for Romeo and Sollenne the same happened in the semifinals. Only Isayas and Lukiano competed in the finals, ranking 4th and 5th respectively and barely missing the podium, but with a good finish nevertheless. Following this review, it's now time to talk about upcoming events! Here's the list of those happening in Kharventhin: Freestyle Wrestling Finals featuring Gilmar Opiternio-Sousa, Ulisse Yanseno, and Silvia Kolumella; Matchday 4 of Indoor Volleyball and Semifinals of Water Polo (team events); Furthermore, the Karate Kata, 4x100m Relay Run and Boxing Lightweight events will also happen, but Giovanniland will not participate. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Hammer Throw featuring Karlo Kadrino-Kosta, Guillermo Vindemia-Tamudio, and Emilio Mariano-Visellio; Gymnastics Balance Beam featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; Semifinals of Basketball, Matchday 5 of Handball, Matchday 5 of Lacrosse, Matchday 3 of Field Hockey, Matchday 3 of Football, and Matchday 3 of Rugby Sevens (team events); That is the schedule for the ninth day of Esferic events! You can watch live events on the channels 201 to 210, and for members of our monthly subscription, we also have recordings in our website if you aren't able to check them live. See you tomorrow for another report!

Grande Stadio Sferiko, Quorivo, Giovanniland—16:00 PM International Atomic Time, 31st October 1421 "So, we did it!", said 110m Hurdles bronze-medalist Kyro to his fellow athletes Barbara Gaudina, Diogo Kollega, and Ernesto Arboreto Amorante. "We've brought one of the best performances ever in an Esferiad event for our nation, dominating the podium and also holding fourth place." "Indeed," noted Barbara. "Even if I wasn't able to get a medal, fourth place is still very nice and my score was nearly the same as you Kyro." "Honestly, the gold medal I received was unexpected," thought Ernesto. "I mean, I did work for it, but I've always thought of Kyro and Diogo as a tad better." "Nevertheless," remarked Diogo, "it's time to celebrate anyways! Let's go back to the Esferic Village, I'm sure the rest of the Giovannilandian athletes are awaiting for us, and then we can have a nice dinner to celebrate." Just as they were leaving, a crew of reporters stopped them. One of them said: "Hello! I am Gabriello from the Quotidiano Quorivano — a local newspaper of our city that seeks to report about daily news. I think many Quorivans and Giovannilandians have already heard of your impressive victory in the 110m Hurdles event, and if you all don't mind, we'd like to ask you a few questions." "Sure, I think we all would be glad to answer," answered Ernesto. The others quickly agreed. "Great! So, first question: how did you all find professional sport as something to dedicate time on? Barbara decided to answer: "We all have different backgrounds, I'm sure. For example, I come from the third-largest city of Porto Violeto, while Diogo and Ernesto are both from the capital Giovannia, and I think Kyro is a native Quorivan. But in regards to how we found sport, I think we all share the same story of our sports teachers thinking of us as possibly future athletes based on our performances back then, and encouraging us to go further. Then, by putting a lot of time and effort, we started winning regional tournaments until being noticed by the national Esferic Committee and then deciding to participate." "Nice answer!", the reporter thought. "Did any of you know each other before then?" "Myself and Ernesto are high school friends, but otherwise no, we only got to know each other after the roster for the Esferiad was released a few months ago and we had a chance of knowing our fellow competitors of this same sport," said Diogo. "I see, did any of you also participate in international tournaments before?" Kyro answered, "I think I am the only one that participated in the previous Esferiad, although not in 110m hurdles—in the 100m run of the Saint-Josalyn Summer Esferiad, I finished 7th in the final with a time of 11.04 seconds. I also took part in the 100m run here in Quorivo, but did not earn a medal either. My first Esferiad medal has been this one." "As for myself and Diogo, we have taken part of international athletic tournaments before but did not achieve a medal. Within Giovanniland, though, I'm sure all of us have already excelled, as it made us known to the Committee," said Ernesto. Barbara also agreed. "That does sound like a very impressive story," the reporter Gabriel remarked. "Two more questions, how are you feeling after this very successful event, and what are your sports plans in the future?" "It felt really nice to be part of Giovanniland's first podium-sweep, our Glenpavian neighbors had one earlier in this Esferiad and now we've got one as well, after several events where Giovanniland barely missed it. Nevertheless, getting the medal is only part of the fun, as we all like participating even if we don't get something. Barbara, for example, barely missed the podium, but I'm sure she is also celebrating with us," said Kyro. "As for our future plans," thought Barbara, "we're all still pretty young—none of us has 30 years or more—so I'm sure we still have a lot of our sporting career ahead. Of course, due to our success, I wouldn't be surprised if we're also given the opportunities to participate in other international tournaments or even future Esferiads, and I think all of us would gladly accept. I am glad to see our country succeed in the Esferiad, and hopefully we will see many more medals in the coming days." "Thank you for those insightful answers," said the reporter. "It seems as our time is up, but tomorrow this interview will probably make a front page headline in our newspaper, and I hope many people will read it. Thank you again!" The crew then traveled back to their newspaper headquarters, while the four athletes then had a special dinner celebration. This excellent performance would surely be a story to count for their future families, and an inspiration for many present and future Giovannilandian athletes.

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 7th Day 11 Gold - 8 Silver - 10 Bronze Good morning Giovanniland! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. Yesterday was a very eventful day in the Esferiad, with Giovanniland gaining two of each medal type for a total of six, and most notably tying Blue Bubble in the total medal count! This means that we're now first in both rankings, due to having three more gold medals than our neighbors. In this report I'll of course talk about the events that brought us these medals and the others that happened today. Firstly, the events in Kharventhin! The 10 km Marathon Swim featured swimmers Lavinia Prospero, Sara Urbana-Amorio, and Giovanni Amdo-Gyasso, who finished 3rd, 5th and 7th respectively, meaning that Giovanniland achieved a bronze medal. Meanwhile, Beach Volleyball athletes Alessander Elessiano-Savora & Elisabetta Santi won against Frisk Dachev & Robert Spïdwagen in the semifinals, and will now receive either a silver or a gold medal. We'll know which medal it is later today, after their match against Glenpavian athletes Olukayode Pinho & Imaculada Ventura! In the Matchday 7 of Water Polo, Giovanniland won 8-5 against Teralyon and will face Nieubasria in the quarterfinals, while in Matchday 2 of Indoor Volleyball our team again dominated all three sets of a match, this time against Fhaengshia. In Quorivo, many more events happened, and I'll start by the team events. Our Baseball team won 3-1 against Cambria in the semifinals, and will now play against their neighbors Nieubasria in the gold medal match. Our Basketball team scored a convincing 94-59 win against Dilber in the last group stage matchday, finishing first in the group with 15 points and a strong performance of 515 points for and 387 points against across all matches, and they will face the team from Arifiyyah next. The Handball and Lacrosse teams both played against United Adaikes, with the former losing 24-30 but the latter winning 10-4. Finally, three other team events had their debuts yesterday—Giovanniland won 3-2 against Tupmonia in Field Hockey, while in Football and Rugby Sevens the Giovannilandian teams had byes. For individual events, there were two and both were part of athletics. In the Discus Throw, all three athletes Alkione Quernio-Velanio, Rosangela Abrenti, and Klara Rasenno Rosa passed through the qualifying, notably taking that stage's first three places, in that order. In the final, however, they finished with 1st, 2nd, and 4th places respectively. A very strong finish, nevertheless, and it's worth noting that Alkione established a new Esferic record! As for the 110m Hurdles event, Barbara Gaudina, Ernesto Arboreto Amorante, Diogo Kollega, and Kyro Velsio-Sousa all participated and went to the final. There, they managed Giovanniland's first podium sweep—Ernesto first, Diogo second, and Kyro third! Barbara barely missed the podium with one hundredth of a second less than Kyro, but fourth place is also a very good finish. We can all agree that this has been the best Giovannilandian performance so far! After this very successful day, Giovanniland now has 29 medals, the same amount held by co-hosts Blue Bubble. And since we're halfway through the Esferiad, the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report decided to make an interesting graph about our medals so far! The columns of the graph show the medals gained each day, and the total height of each stacked column also informs that day's total. Meanwhile, the lines show our progress throughout the Esferiad, both by each medal type and the grand total. We can see some curious tidbits here, for example the fact that we've consistently gained 2 gold medals every day since Day 3, and that since Day 4 at least one of each medal type has been achieved. The graph is of course available in the web for viewers' perusal. Following this retrospective, it's now time to talk about future events! Firstly, these are the upcoming events happening in Kharventhin: Swimming Individual All-Arounds and Swimming Team All-Arounds; Stage 1 of Freestyle Wrestling featuring Gilmar Opiternio-Sousa, Ulisse Yanseno, and Silvia Kolumella; Final of Beach Volleyball featuring Alessander Elessiano-Savora & Elisabetta Santi; Matchday 3 of Indoor Volleyball and Quarterfinals of Water Polo (team events); Furthermore, the Karate Kata and Fencing Épée Individual events will also happen, but Giovanniland will not participate. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Gymnastics Floor Exercise featuring Lukiano Annabella-Tappone, Sollenne Sousa Kandido, Silvana Mantovani, Isayas Delliaro-Varrutio, and Romeo Saverri-Mattei; Final of Baseball, Quarterfinals of Basketball, Matchday 4 of Handball, Matchday 4 of Lacrosse, Matchday 2 of Field Hockey, Matchday 2 of Football, and Matchday 2 of Rugby Sevens (team events); Those are the events that will happen during the eighth day of Esferic events! Anyone can watch them on the channels 201 to 210, with members of our monthly subscription also able to check recordings. That is all for today, and see you tomorrow for the next report!

Could @iOctagon please be masked as newspaper staff?

Dazano, Lavanda Prima, Giovanniland—12:30 PM International Atomic Time, 30th October 1421 "Today's lunch tastes really delicious," said Angela to her husband Matteo. "Thank you for making this rice with seafood, we haven't had one in a while." "No problem", answered Matteo. "How's the Esferiad going, by the way? I haven't got enough time to check it due to all my teaching work since we travelled to Quorivo two days ago. "It's going really nice for Giovanniland," noted the younger son Flavio. "The nation earned 6 medals in day 5, we're now tied with Glenpavia for gold medals." "And today looks promising so far," added the older son Augusto. "We've already won 89-54 against Larxia in basketball and three sets to zero against Tupmonia in volleyball." "Awesome," thought Martin. "You know, I wish we had some time this weekend to watch some more games," he added. "Same, but my friend Abrelio invited me and Augusto to his Halloween party and we really didn't want to miss that," remarked Joachim. "That's entirely fair, no worries," said Angela. "I can take care of driving you to and from his house later. Do you both have the costumes ready?", she asked. The two brothers excitedly confirmed in unison. Some silence then happened as the family continued to have lunch. Suddenly the silence was broken. "I've just thought, why don't we travel to Quorivo and possibly also Kharventhin next weekend? We could even watch the closing ceremony," proposed Joachim. "And the final match of football!", added his older brother. "Although that's in Quorivo, so we'd have to watch it earlier and then go to Kharventhin." "What do you all think of traveling to Quorivo on Friday, staying two nights there and of course watch some events during the weekend, and then going to Kharventhin for the closing ceremony before returning to Dazano?", said Angela. "I like the idea!", Martin replied before further adding, "I say, let's wait a bit until choosing the specific events we'll watch, so hopefully we spectate ones with Giovannilandian participation." "Of course," Angela replied. Saying to her two children, "we'll book a room at a good Quoriv hotel while you two are in the Halloween party." Everyone else agreed. The lunch continued without other major topics, with the two children excited about both the party and the upcoming travel to Quoriv. Benavedia, Spandorto, Giovanniland—16:00 PM International Atomic Time, 30th October 1421 "Dad, I've finished my school homework for Monday," said the 12-year-old Aulo. "Can we watch some Esferiad games?" "Of course," his father Lorentio answered. "Let's see what the TV is showing right now," added his mother Barbara. "We're eight minutes in at the 10000m run! Lanino Hanyan from Glenpavia first, Martyn Giles from Cambria second, and Anastasio Fernando-Vittoriani from Giovanniland third!", said the narrator Urbano Sallotio, head reporter of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report's press corps at Quoriv. "It seems Marko Kambraya is almost at the podium," said Barbara. "He achieved a silver medal at the last Esferiad, let's hope he performs like that or even better this time." "Anastasio also competed before," added Lorentio. "He was 20th place in the same event at the Saint-Josalyn Esferiad, seeing him at 3rd is very nice." Five minutes later, the narrator told everyone watching: "Giovannilandian runner Marko Kambraya has just taken third place, Anastasio is now fourth. Will both able to secure a medal?", she added. "I do hope that happens," thought Aulo. "Marko is very close to the Cambrian runner currently in second place too." "Halfway through the 10 kilometer route, and Marko has taken second place! And that's just as Anastasio takes third, 2nd to 4th places are really close to each other! What an exciting competition!", Alice continued, and the family cheered as they closely watched. The same positions at the podium continued for most of the run, although Marko was catching up to the Glenpavian runner then in first place. With three minutes left, the narrator noted: "Lanino and Marko are neck and neck, let's see who will get the gold medal!" "Go Giovanniland!", cheered Aulo. "And Giovanniland now controls 1st and 3rd places, as well as Ivone in 7th and Tiberio in 8th!", the narrator said with happiness. "They are really close..." commented Barbara. "I think it's less than one minute left, let's hope for the best result!", said Lorentio. Soon the narrator Alice exclaimed: "And Marko Kambraya from Giovanniland is the winner with 27 minutes and 6.9 seconds!" Eight seconds later, "Lanino Hanyan from Glenpavia arrives in 2nd place eight seconds later— and Anastasio Fernando-Vittoriani from Giovanniland is third place, four seconds after Lanino!" The family again cheered, as the narrator then announced the names of the other athletes not in the podium as they arrived. They happily sang the Giovannilandian anthem in the medal ceremony soon after, although they soon went to do other things so they couldn't watch any other events.

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 6th Day 9 Gold - 6 Silver - 8 Bronze Good morning Giovanniland! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. And firstly, I am glad to tell you all that Giovanniland is now ranked FIRST PLACE for gold medals in the Esferiad! Four medals were gained today, bringing the total to twenty-three, and in this report I'll of course talk about the events that brought us these medals and the others that happened today. Firstly, the events in Kharventhin! The quarterfinals of Beach Volleyball happened, and the Giovannilandian athletes Alessander Elessiano-Savora & Elisabetta Santi won against Morghan Victor & Estelle Montaigne from Nieubasria. They will now meet known opponents in the semifinals, namely Frisk Dachev & Robert Spïdwagen from Hertfordshire and Jammbo. Giovanniland also fared well in Matchday 1 of Indoor Volleyball, with a strong win in all sets against Tupmonia, while it had a bye in the Matchday 6 of Water Polo. Those were all events with Giovannilandian participation in Kharventhin, but there were a lot more in Quorivo. In the Quarterfinals of Baseball, Giovanniland achieved a strong 6-2 win against Fuentana, and will now face Cambria in the semifinals. The Giovannilandian Basketball team won 89-54 against Larxia and now stands in first place in its group with twelve points, a strong showing that should hopefully continue in the upcoming knockout stage. Meanwhile, Giovanniland had byes in Handball and Lacrosse. The Equestrian Jumping team, however, did not fare well and finished in 7th place out of 10 nations competing. In the Grand Esferic Stadium, two athletic events happened. The 10000 m Run featured Marko Kambraya, Anastasio Fernando-Vittoriani, Ivone Sanquartina, and Tiberio Nyima Quartilio, and they finished 1st, 3rd, 7th and 8th respectively. This was a very good performance from the Giovannilandian runners, earning two medals for the nation. Meanwhile, in the Shot Put, Quirino Anario, Amanda Karventino Valli, and Rullo Aquamena-Santi all performed well both in the qualifiers and in the final. Amanda won a gold medal and established a new Esferic record, while Rullo and Querino achieved 6th and 7th places respectively. Finally, the knockout stage of Tennis Doubles saw Saulo Urydesi Afraniano & Gustavo Quintana Oralino earn a silver medal after losing to Dio Burluka & Faust Hareleudeiem. Following this retrospective, it's now time to talk about future events! Firstly, the events happening in Kharventhin: 10 km Marathon Swim featuring Giovanni Amdo-Gyasso, Lavinia Prospero, and Sara Urbana-Amorio; Semifinals of Beach Volleyball featuring Alessander Elessiano-Savora & Elisabetta Santi; Matchday 2 of Indoor Volleyball and Matchday 7 of Water Polo (team events); Furthermore, the Rowing Coxed Eights and Fencing Épée Individual events will also happen, but Giovanniland will not participate. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Semifinals of Baseball, Matchday 7 of Basketball, Matchday 3 of Handball, Matchday 3 of Lacrosse, Matchday 1 of Field Hockey, Matchday 1 of Football, and Matchday 1 of Rugby Sevens (team events); 110 m Hurdles featuring Barbara Gaudina, Ernesto Arboreto Amorante, Diogo Kollega, and Kyro Velsio-Sousa; Discus Throw featuring Alkione Quernio-Velanio, Klara Rasenno Rosa, and Rosangela Abrenti; Those are the events that will happen during the seventh day of Esferic events—and anyone can watch them on the channels 201 to 210! Members of our monthly subscription can also check recordings if unable to watch live. That is all for today, and see you tomorrow for the next report!

Giovannilandian Esferiad Report - 5th Day 7 Gold - 5 Silver - 7 Bronze Good morning Giovanniland! I am Karlo Nakamura-Edrense, the host of the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report. There's lot to talk about today, especially since Giovanniland earned 6 medals in Day 5 and that brought our nation to 2nd place in both gold and total medals. Of course, we'll review the events of yesterday and talk about the upcoming ones, starting with Kharventhin! In the Matchday 5 of Beach Volleyball, AAlessander Elessiano-Savora & Elisabetta Santi lost to Tor Uthus & Ådne Dyrnes from Fujai but nevertheless qualified to the quarterfinals, facing Morghan Victor & Estelle Montaigne tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Water Polo team drew with Cambria 9-9 and is now fourth in Group B, but in a tough situation since it has one more match played than almost all other teams and must secure a win next Monday. The 200m Butterfly Swim saw Giovannilandian athletes Gianna Kimura-Amanda, Silvana Santo-Sallustio, Galeria Karvilio, and Valeria Lakerta-Flavia competing, with all but Gianna passing through all stages. In the final, Silvana earned a silver medal and broke the previous Esferic record, which is a very nice feat, even if the new record went to James Peaty from Cambria. Meanwhile, the Park Skateboarding event featured Raissa Tongilio, Quirino Zapata-Abria, and Doglio Quartiano, with Quirino and Doglio advancing to the final round and then earning gold and bronze medals respectively. The day was more eventful in the Giovannilandian part, with seven events in Quorivo and one in Uryde. The latter was Stage 1 of Tennis Doubles featuring the pairs of Saulo Urydesi Afraniano & Gustavo Quintana Oralino and Karlo Herbario & Gianna Karventino, with both advancing to the quarterfinals. The latter pair was then eliminated, but the former advanced to the semifinals and will meet Aaren Seabrooke & Lacey John from United Adaikes next. Meanwhile, Equestrian Jumping Individuals featured Talitta Porfirio Kastri and Osvaldo Gormo, with Talitta advancing to the final but eventually ranking fourth, tied with Marcarius Halohin from Saint Mark. Several team events also happened in Quorivo. Giovanniland lost a Baseball match 3-2 to Tupmonia in Matchday 5, but nevertheless finished third in Group A and will face Fuentana in the quarterfinals, while in Matchday 5 of Basketball our nation won 76-63 against Cambria and currently tops Group A. Handball and Lacrosse both had their first matchdays yesterday, and coincidentally Giovanniland played against Dalimbar in both. The Handball team won 27-21 while the Lacrosse team lost 9-10, with both having a bye in the next day before playing their remaining matches. Finally, two athletic events took place in the Grande Stadio Sferiko. Katia Terra, Brinno Rodrigo, Antonio Tavallano-Porfirio, and Guillermo Nazano participated in the 1500m Run, with Katia expected to repeat her feat from the I Summer Esferiad of Saint-Josalyn of winning a gold medal. All four qualified for the final, but Brinno and Antonio were the ones that won medals, gold and silver respectively. Katia barely missed podium and placed 4th, while Guillermo finished 6th. The Long Jump featured Lavanda Arboni, Rikardo Korunkanio, and Teresa Sousa-Afrani, with all of them advancing to the final. They then placed 3rd, 5th and 10th respectively, meaning that Giovanniland gained a bronze medal. This was a very successful day for our nation! Two medals of each type were gained, putting Giovanniland in 2nd place of both gold and total medal rankings as I said before. Giovanniland is tied with co-hosts Blue Bubble for gold and bronze medals, but has six less silver medals. Nevertheless, this is still a very good performance for Lavender Island and Aura overall, and since we're 1/3 of the way in the Esferiad, the Giovannilandian Esferiad Report decided to make a table comparing each continent's performance, sorted by gold medals. Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total Aura Blue Bubble 7 11 7 25 Giovanniland 7 5 7 19 Saint Mark 1 2 5 8 Santos-Dominius 1 0 1 2 Orandia 1 0 1 2 Arifiyyah 0 0 0 0 Dilber 0 0 0 0 Fuentana 0 0 0 0 Aura 17 18 21 56 Andolia Hertfordshire and Jammbo 6 3 4 13 Larxia 2 0 3 5 Fhaengshia 0 0 0 0 Nagaraningrad 0 0 0 0 Tupmonia 0 0 0 0 Andolia 8 3 7 18 Polaris Nieubasria 4 6 3 13 Tara and Cambray 2 3 1 6 Fujai 1 0 0 1 Teralyon 0 1 0 1 United Adaikes 0 0 1 1 Dalimbar 0 0 0 0 Polaris 7 10 5 22 Total Aura 17 18 21 56 Andolia 8 3 7 18 Polaris 7 10 5 22 Doll Guldur 0 0 0 0 Esferos 32 31 33 96 We can clearly see that Aura has performed very well in the Esferiad so far, dominating all rankings. Polaris and Andolia are neck and neck, with Andolia having one more gold medal but Polaris prevailing in the total medal count with four more. As for Doll Guldur, the continent sadly did not have any nation entering any athletes for the Esferiad. Anyways, following this retrospective, it's now time to talk about future events! Firstly, the events happening in Kharventhin: 10 km Marathon Swim featuring Giovanni Amdo-Gyasso, Lavinia Prospero, and Sara Urbana-Amorio; Quarterfinals of Beach Volleyball featuring Alessander Elessiano-Savora and Elisabetta Santi; Matchday 1 of Indoor Volleyball and Matchday 6 of Water Polo (team events); The 4x200 m Medley Relay Swim and Rowing Coxless Fours events will also happen, but Giovanniland will not participate. Meanwhile, the events in Quorivo will be: Quarterfinals of Baseball, Matchday 6 of Basketball, Matchday 2 of Handball, and Matchday 2 of Lacrosse (team events); 10000 m Run featuring Marko Kambraya, Anastasio Fernando-Vittoriani, Ivone Sanquartina, and Tiberio Nyima Quartilio; Shot Put featuring Quirino Anario, Amanda Karventino Valli, and Rullo Aquamena-Santi; Equestrian Jumping Team featuring Talitta Porfirio Kastri and Osvaldo Gormo; Tennis Doubles Finals featuring Saulo Urydesi Afraniano and Gustavo Quintana Oralino; Those are the events that will happen during the sixth day of Esferic events—and anyone can watch them on the channels 201 to 210! That is all for today, and see you tomorrow for the next report.

Dazano, Lavanda Prima, Giovanniland—11:00 AM International Atomic Time, 28th October 1421 "Are us four all ready to go?", asked Matteo Settimo-Nerani to his wife and two sons. "Yes," Angela replied. "Flavio and Augusto, you can go in the back seats of the car. Augusto, please stop using this phone!" The two obeyed. The members of the Settimo-Nerani family were Matteo, a 45-year-old university teacher, Angela, a 43-year-old web designer, and their two sons Flavio and Augusto, 13 and 15 year old respectively. All were avid sports fans, and they decided to go from Dazano to the nearby city of Quorivo for a few hours to watch some of the Esferiad's games. "Alright then," said Matteo. "If I'm not mistaken, there's about 50 kilometers between Dazano and Quorivo, so it should take a hour or two for us to arrive—I think we'll stop at a restaurant in Uryde around halfway of our journey, and then arrive with enough time for the 400m Run and Pole Vault events in the Grande Stadio Sferiko starting at 14:00 PM." The family soon started the journey. Augusto, although initially contemplating the colorful streets of Dazano, soon lost interest as they left the city and went into rural areas. The phone was naturally an attention grabber. Flavio was, unlike his brother, more interested in nature and history. "Look, here are the ruins of the Tomb of Gyalseno III!", noted Angela. "He was an important Lavandulan emperor," Flavio added. "I do hope we visit it sometime, but not now," remarked Matteo. The lack of other comments prompted him to say: "Augusto, will you stop looking at the phone at least once?" "But dad, I can't lose this match of Fight of Factions I am playing! And you know I'm not that interested in those ancient things," the older brother replied. "Whatever," whispered Angela in her husband's ear. "I guess we really can't convince him." Twenty more minutes and they had arrived at Uryde, stopping by at a local restaurant. There were many seafood dishes and salads, and the entire family liked it, spending half an hour in there. Quorivo, Lavanda Prima, Giovanniland—13:30 PM International Atomic Time, 28th October 1421 Another hour and a half and they had arrived at downtown Quorivo. "It's really crowded," noted Flavio. "This is the Esferiad after all," replied his older brother. "Look, there's the Grande Stadio Sferiko!", Angela exclaimed. Let's walk until there. "Matteo, do you have the entrance tickets?" "Of course," he replied. The family entered the stadium and, after some time and effort, found their four seats. "There are over 30 thousand people here already, and there's still half an hour before the 400m run starts!", said Angela. "What's the total capacity?" "I believe it's 100 thousand, but we should probably expect around 50 or 60. It was only really full during the Opening Ceremony," Matteo replied. "Yeah, shame that we had classes and mom had to work that day," Flavio regretted. "I saw the recording and it was really cool." The family then waited, some of them looking at their phones or just talking about random things to pass time. A loud voice three minutes before the start got their attention. "Ladies and gentleman," announced one of the judges, "the 400m run is about to start! Please welcome the athletes that will participate in Heat 1: Gingka Hristov from Hertfordshire and Jammbo, Gilvano Gormo Viator from Giovanniland, Luba Pisk from Teralyon, Lyla Vogel from Dalimbar, Magnus Midtun from Fujai, Milo Audley from United Adaikes, Oumarou Sevil from Dilber, and Ylvia Gougein from Dalimbar! They will start soon." "Look," said Angela, "let's stop doing other things and watch those games." 13:59 PM. The same judge spoke at the megaphone, "Three... two... one... GO!" The runners all started. "Go, Gilvano!", yelled the Giovannilandian fans at the stadium, including the family. Gilvano started at third, but in 15 seconds he had taken the second position, and in another 10 he was in the lead. It took 45.52 seconds for him to finish, the first one of the heat, with Luba Pisk from Teralyon arriving a quarter of a second later. The family cheered. The other heats soon followed with the same procedure, taking around 15 minutes. Beatrige de Abreo-Florino, Gilvano Gormo Viator, Sersio Zara, and Fabio Orintal-Silva had all qualified. In the semifinals, however, only Beatrige and Gilvano ran fast enough to advance to the final. The clock marked 14:40 PM, and the final was about to start. "All athletes ready? Three... two... one... GO!", said another of the judges. "Gilvano is in first place now!", remarked Angela. "But, oh no, it seems Beatrige had a bad start and is now last at eighth..." "She's seventh now! Go, faster!", cheered Matteo. Twenty seconds in. "No! Gilvano has lost the lead!", cried Flavio. Matteo said: "Ouch, seems he's losing steam... third place now... no, fourth..." "No, we've lost a place at the podium!", lamented Augusto. The Giovannilandian fans' cheer started to lose force as the judge announced: "Eute Pesotta first! Wervoja Lasure second! Gingka Hristov third!" and so on. "That was very close," commented Matteo. "They're saying Gilvano only lost by a tenth of a second. Fourth place is still very good anyways." "Oh well, perhaps we get a medal in Pole Vault later," thought Angela. "Who wants some water or food?", she asked. The family had already been there for some time, and still had another event to watch. It was 15:00 PM now. Some people had left the stadium, while others had arrived for the next event. It would start at 15:30 PM, and the family patiently waited. Twenty-five minutes later, the event was about to start. Giovannilandian athletes Neuriano Mettio, Arabella Gianluka, and Edna Nivoso were all ready. The competition started at 5.15 meters, with athletes having three attempts to clear each height and advance to the next. The crowd cheered for each one passing, while sounds of lament could be heard when one was eliminated. Some time later... "Wow, it's up to 5.65 and many athletes are still performing very well—good to see Giovanniland is within those," said Angela. "Ouch, there stops Edna after missing three attempts," commented Flavio. "And Arabella." "Luckily they're in the top twelve that will go to the final," remarked Augusto. "Neuriano is going very strong, I hope he can hopefully win the final," said Matteo. "The qualifying has finished at 5.75 meters now, and hurrah for all Giovannilandians advancing!" The family was very excited for the final, with Giovanniland having good chances at a medal. "5.45 meters," noted Angela. "Ouch, three athletes are already out and we've not even gone to the next height..." They all watched as the height of the bar increased. "It's down to the top 5 now!", said Matteo. "Aleaumin Roachant, Arabella Gianluka, Edna Nivoso, Neuriano Mettio, and Wanja Longs. Three from Giovanniland, one from Glenpavia, one from Nieubasria. We've guaranteed at least one medal!" 5.75 meters was the last height achieved by Aleaumin and Edna. The podium was defined now, all that was yet to be decided was who would get each medal. "Two medals for Giovanniland!", commented Angela. Wanja from Blue Bubble then had three misses, and two Giovannilandians remained. "GOLD AND SILVER!", exclaimed Matteo. The family watched as the two Giovannilandians tried to outdo each other, with Arabella eventually finishing second and Neuriano earning first place. "Giovanniland! Giovanniland!", cheered the fans at the stadium. The anthems of Giovanniland and Blue Bubble were then played in the medal ceremony, and the family proudly sang the former. "And wow, 5.90 meters is a very high score! It may not be an Esferic record, but it's surely something to be remembered," noted Flavio. The family was then ready to leave after the day's events in the Grande Stadio Sferiko ended. They left Quorivo at 17:30 PM, and arrived home around one hour later. The competition may have ended, but those were nice memories that would remain for long.