MHSN

well, I think only 2 good/decent wrestlers are left outside of Europe, (Iran and Uzbekistan) if they both qualify. (I hope so ) Gadzhiev has to face the exact same field of European wrestlers in Bulgaria. he is one of the favorites but he is not the only one. I can name Khinchegashvili and Skriabin. plus Bucur who almost beat Gadzhiev in the first match.

so at the end of the day 3 2 1 what a pleasant surprise at the end, Khramiankou just beat Sharipov by a last second takedown. good challenge from the Belarusian coach. and Sharipov himself knew he lost the match even before the final confirmation. I think Tedeev (Russian FS head coach who was absent here) is going to kill him right at the airport he better takes refugee in Hungary and Azerbaijan lost another "supposed to be" easy quota. this time to Germany, grandpa Magomedov gassed after 30-40 seconds and the German guy pushed him out of the mat like 100 times. interesting point, only 1 of 12 seeded wrestlers qualified for Tokyo (Vangelov) that says enough about the seeding system. the best wrestler of the day: Khramiankou

Tevanyan also beat Gadzhiev to make it to the Olympics. he is the rising star of this weight but what a dumb mistake by Umarpashaev. the first thing you learn in wrestling clubs is to never let your foot be close to your head. because if your opponent locks them together there is no way you can escape the fall. Umarpashaev was still leading 6-4 at the time but one dumb mistake was enough for Kentchadze.

what a second period for Vangelov first quota for Bulgaria

anddd in a very tough battle ENKHBAT Lkhagvasuren beat JARGALSAIKHAN Munkhzorig 4-0 to win the men's East Asian quota

Semifinals (qualification wrestle-off) matches are scheduled for 18:00 local time let's take a look at what happened today so far 57kg: Vangelov vs Bazarganov //// Harutyunyan vs Yatsenko no surprise in this weight, these 4 were expected to be here. impressed by Harutyunyan, he had a tough draw, still has some cardio issues but I think he and Bazarganov qualify at the end. it was a terrible day for Ukraine, Yatsenko is their last chance. 65kg: Aliyev vs Sacultan //// Gadzhiev vs Tevanyan only a miracle can deny Aliyev an Olympic quota. but the other semifinal will be close. the only surprise here was Khinchegashvili's defeat. but was that really a surprise?! Tevanyan won the world cup in December and proved himself. before the COVID he wrestled in an event in Iran and lost to everybody and after a year he came back someone different!! still he almost lost to Skriabin but somehow turned the table in the last minute. I think he surprised Khincheghasvhili early in the match otherwise the Olympic champion could find a way to beat him. it will be hard to predict his match vs Gadzhiev who wasn't in his best shape today. Gadzhiev was down 4-0 against Bucur and I think scored the winning point only in the last 5 seconds. I think Tevanyan is slightly the favorite here. 74kg: Gadzhiyev vs Vasilioglo //// Kentchadze vs Umarpashaev no surprise for the first 3 quarters but wow, what a day for Umarpashaev, he was man of the day (or at least the morning session) with his throwing techniques ! after pinning Salkazanov, he also threw the tricky Russian/Belarusian for 4 at the start of the match and managed to get a 4-4 win. on paper Kentchadze is the favorite but he has to watch out for the Bulgarian, otherwise he will fly too! I remember Khadjiev made him fly at the Worlds in Nur-Sultan so that's not impossible at all. have to mention Demirtas who was very unlucky against BLR. he did all the works but his opponent won 8-7! on the top half the last hope of the host nation Kuramagomedov was leading the entire match against Gadzhiyev but lose the match in the last 3-4 seconds. Vasilioglo isn't completely without the chance against this guy who wasn't impressive at all. 86kg: Magamev vs Shabanov //// Gocen vs Makoev apparently Makoev wrestles good once in 4 years! he did nothing special after his silver medal at the worlds in 2017 but then today he woke up a different wrestler! he dominated Aminashvili who just beat my favorite Polish guy! he will face Gocen who somehow beat Abakarov (was lucky to be honest) today morning I would say Gocen but based on what I saw Makoev is the favorite. on the top half I was expecting Magamaev to face Shabanov in the SF but he was much better than what I was expecting, on other hand Shabanov was just lucky to salvage a 1-1 win against Ianulov. I think this will be 50/50 97kg: Conyedo vs Hushtyn //// Thiele vs Karadeniz Thiele was the only surprise semifinalist for me , but I knew he is tough to score on. he beat Baran and he has a chance in the SF. Karadeniz beat Saritov in the most important match of the morning (for this weight) I have to say Saritov was the better wrestler must of the match but I guess at the end he gassed because of his age. Hushtyn vs Conyedo will be interesting. Hushtyn almost lost his QF match but a very late pushout kept his hopes alive. they are two different types of wrestlers. really hard to predict. 125kg: Magomedov vs Cudinovic //// Khramiankov vs Sharipov really really impressed by Khramiankou. if you watched his matches, he is half the size of his opponents but beat them by pure technique! I'm not sure if that works against Russia unfortuantely! Sharipov had a very hard time against Baran, I somehow feel sorry for the Polish guy, he deserved the quota much more than Magomedov on the top half and was leading 2-0 Sharipov for a long time but couldn't defend well in the crucial moments.

checking the rules I was right, they have to attend the second weigh-in and if they fail (to appear or be overweight) they will be disqualified. unless they have a note from the UWW doctor confirming their injury! in this case they will just lose the remaining matches. but I assume faking an injury and getting that note won't be that hard. will be a busy weekend for the UWW doctors in the arena

I don't now much about women's wrestling. and no I don't think so in men's freestyle Greco? maybe. Noumonvi has a chance which is not big but still realistic chance. and your 77kg has a very good chance to wrestle in the semifinal and from there it's just one win. everything is possible in one match specially in Greco

Greco now. I didn't really went deep into the draw to check head to head results etc. I promised to write something tonight. I try to be as accurate as I can. 60kg: Kerem Kamal is the top seed and probably the favorite in the top half. but he has a tough draw. first GEO, then MDA/BLR and later HUN/BUL/NOR in the SF. if we don't count that Romanian guy (and GEO who is a bit new). 6 of them are accomplished wrestlers ! I like Ciobanu's style, I didn't notice him in the original entry list. I pick him but that will be close between all these guys. kind of interesting BUL is trusting the old guy Angelov. he won bronze in Ukraine recently and did good. does his body survive 2 tough matches ? the bottom half is less "crowded" I think Lizatovic is the favorite to win the 3rd quarter but whoever comes from the last part will be the favorite. I think we will see another AZE/ARM battle in the QF. Gharibyan is the current European Champion so he is pick. My prediction: 67kg: Thoresen surprised everybody at the Euro, where he won the title. I think his first round match vs Korpasi is the real final for that part of the draw. Korpasi has to cut a lot to make weight, but HUN is the host and refs can do miracles in Greco from the rest 6 guys I only see Islamov as a threat . bottom half is much harder with so many good (but no great) wrestlers. UKR, GEO, TUR, AZE, ARM, ROU they are capable of winning the quota but I want to go with Sahakyan. he has bye in the first round which will help him in the 2nd round too. My prediction: 77kg: well, today is Azerbaijan's lucky day Suleymanov has no big opponent in front of him but then this is Greco, one caution and your opponent can collect lots of points in parterre. nothing is guaranteed. I saw Gutu at the world cup , he is talented but still something like 18. can surprise AZE for sure, then Starcevic and Wolny, I think they are all in the same level. in the 2nd quarter I really don't know any of these guys I saw the French guy at Ukraine, he probably wins that part. we were supposed to see Vlasov vs Nemes here. but Russia had a late minute change, it's Chekhirkin now. he has a very tough draw with Eisele and Bolkvadze, if he survives, that's most probably Nemes ! can he survive 3 tough matches in a row without much time to recover? I have hard time to pick between RUS and SRB here. I think it will get into the hands of the refs. I think Cengiz will win the 3rd quarter but lose the SF. My prediction: 87kg: poor Huklek. what a reward for being the top seed! Shahinyan, then Gobadze/Basar! and then Russia! both Basar and Gobadze won the world title before. it's just hard to pick between those 3 guys but whoever wins will be underdog against Russia. sorry it's impossible to not pick Russia in this sport but Alirzaev is new to this weight and his first match against Datunishvili won't be easy at all. and when AZE had to be in bottom half because of the seedings, all big guys fell in the top half just luck? it's just getting hard to believe it. I know almost all European Greco wrestlers are tough and you can't underestimate anybody but Abbasov couldn't ask for an easier draw. the fact he has a bye in the first round will help him in the 2nd round too. Aleksandrov is probably his only serious obstacle. My prediction: 97kg: not a lucky draw for Nikoloz Kakh. he has Ukraine and then former European Champion from Norway. (or Belarus) all these 4 guys are good enough to beat each other. and I think in heavier weights we will have so many lucky 1-1 wins. FRA, GER and FIN are also good in the 2nd quarter. I don't know much about the Swedish guy. I really like that Finnish wrestler. I think he will meet our Georgian/Italian friend in the SF. Azerbaijan is still in the easier half, but this time it's not that easy. Milov (BUL) has an easier first round. I think he will survive the QF as well (which is not easy at all) Lokyaev is a world junior bronze medalist from Russia. I think Milov can handle him. My prediction: 130kg: do I need to say AZE is in the easier half ? I think most matches will finish 1-1 and will be decided by "luck" I think AZE and ROU will wrestle in the SF. but anything can happen. none of these guys are "unbeatable" the Romanian guy won a very surprising gold medal in the last Euro. Semenov was the one nobody wanted to face. unlike most of super heavy weight guys he can throw and he does it very well. My prediction:

when I opened 86kg draw first and left that open on my browser the draw was different but now I see they changed it! how come that's possible have to update my anaylze

OK here is what I think about the freestyle draw. hopefully I'm not "very wrong" things are more unpredictable because of COVID, I didn't see some of these guys for a while and had to trust what I knew about them from a year ago. if Azerbaijan was hosting the event I would say they rigged the draw (using the same software Kazakhstan did in 2019 ) but it's probably just pure luck, they qualified 97 already and 4 out of 5 are facing very favorable draw here. 57kg: dream draw for Azerbaijan in the top half, even though they sent a different guy than planned but Bazarganov is still good enough to qualify while Metreveli in the 2nd round is not that bad I believe his only obstacle is the top seed Vangelov (BUL). Vangelov is experienced but never achieved anything internationally so I think AZE is the clear favorite here. in the bottom half we have 5-6 wrestlers capable of winning the quota. I think the winner of ARM/BLR in the first round will have a good chance but then he will have GEO and then Yatsenko in the SF. Egorov from MKD isn't that bad too. I still say Harutyunyan but this kid cuts lots of kilos to make 57kg. it will depend on his physical condition. he has to win 3 tough matches, not sure if he is capable of that. on the other hand Yatsenko most probably has no problem to advance to the semis and has just one tough test before the final. My prediction: 65kg: another dream draw for AZE, Haji Aliev only has one big opponent to win the quota. the top seed from Turkey, this guy with a long name is always seeded but whenever I watch his matches he loses. I think Haji will beat him relatively easily in the 1st quarter of the bottom half, Gadzhiev is the clear favorite, Bucur is good though. those two guys from SLO and GER are no pushover either but I believe Gadzhiev can win that part of the draw. the hardest part is the 4th quarter of the draw. we have Khinch , Shuptar, Dubov, the Armenian kid who just won the World Cup and the BLR guy right next to each other. Khinch didn't "shine" since his Olympic title and he is up a weight but then I think he can beat Shuptar and next match against France. I believe he can handle one tough match in the semifinal. after all you can't underestimate an Olympic champion but he has to bring his best My prediction: 74kg: another one-sided draw and again the Azeri guy is in the "good" half. I believe the 2nd round match between the Russian guy of HUN and AZE will determine the Olympic quota but the Romanian should not be underestimated. the bottom half is much harder as usual, I don't know much about the Ukrainian guy so I assume it will be between Kentchadze, Salkazanov and the Russian guy of BLR. we also have the Olympic bronze medalist Demirtas but he wasn't really good recently. there is an Iranian guy reperesnting GBR too but I think they will eat him alive I don't know how much BLR guy cuts for 74kg but if he is healthy I pick him over Kentchadze and Salkazanov. even though it will be close. My prediction: 84kg: this time we have a tougher top half, Dudarov (GER) was very close to win the quota in 2019 but he did nothing special after that. I think Magamaev will win that quarter of the draw. but wow we have 4 of the favorites in the 2nd quarter. Vereb is a bit old, I cross his name first. Gocen had lots of up and downs I don't know what to expect from him! sames goes to Abakarov. so I think Shabanov is the guy. he always wrestles very good against the Iranians. that's probably why I rank him high (maybe higher than his real place) but I think 6 of the guys in the top half are capable of winning the quota. the bottom half isn't easy either, I think Aminashvili has a better chance to win his first 2 matches, in the last quarter we have POL, MDA and SVK. Makoev is a world silver medalist but he did nothing after that, still he shouldn't be underestimated but the Polish guy is really good. he won the Ukraine tournament recently. Poland had another wrestler in the list but this guy is as good as him. and maybe better and that's why they are sending him. OK they changed the draw, so I have to make few changes, Vereb and Abakarov are now in the bottom half. not much change in my final prediction but now the bottom half is harder. the new draw made the life a bit easier for Shabanov. but now the Polish guy has to win 3 tough matches to qualify, not sure if he is that good. My prediction: 97kg: Conyedo is already in the SF, just one match away from the Olympics but that one match won't be easy at all. it will be Hushtyn or the winner of UKR/BUL. I'm not much familiar with them so I think Hushtyn will win that part and will also win the quota. but he is like a lazy bear, Conyedo can tire him down with the perfect strategy. the bottom half is more interesting, Saritov is seeded but he has to wrestle Karadeniz in the QF. Karadeniz is one of the wrestlers I like personally, he beat Baran at the world cup, the other favorite in this half. the Suisse guy is not bad too. he is an European medalist but at 92. Theile of GER is no pushover too. but I believe at the end of the day it's between TUR, ROU and POL. My prediction: 125kg: I can't see anybody beating Magomedov in the top half. dream draw. he is old and not that good but from those guys only the German guy is not that bad. the rest are below average. bottom half, Sharipov beat Baran in the World Cup final but it was a relatively close match, Baran can beat him even though the Russian is the favorite. the winner of HUN/BLR will meet Sharipov/Baran in the SF. Ligeti is good enough to even beat Sharipov, the BLR guy is new to this weight , he surprised everybody at the World Cup but I don't expect him to go far here. I believe it's between Sharipov, Baran and Ligeti. btw we were supposed to see the great Gatsalov here representing Armenia but they have no entries in this weight! My prediction:

Milad is a pure Persian name as far as I know. but nowadays people use everything everywhere in the world he had some decent results at 82kg. this is his first big test in an Olympic weight, he was a late replacement for Chakvetadze but he won the Russian nationals. so he is OK

yes indeed, if you replace that "V" with an "I", that's pretty much an Iranian name I have no information if he is related to Iran or not. but I just don't think Milad is a Russian name

I will write something detailed about it later tonight. a bit busy right now I wanted to leave Greco for tomorrow night but I do that tonight too

as far as I know they just lose all the match they were supposed to wrestle in the second day. but that was a good question I have to check the rules again. maybe they need a note from a doctor (justifying not cutting weight) to not get disqualified.

this is like any other normal wrestling competition. two finalists qualify we will have the repechage to determine the bronze medalists which worth nothing! (unless someone fails a doping test later) kind of funny that we will have the repechage and the finals on the next day, and these wrestlers have to cut weight AGAIN to have another round of weight-in to wrestle for what ?! the Technical conference (including the draw) is scheduled for 5-6 pm local time. so still early, in 3 hours or so

we will have full brackets in few hours for all 18 weights, but before that UWW apparently is showing top 2 seed in each weight in its website. these 2 guys will be seeded and won't meet each other before the final. (for some stupid reasons they removed the 2020 ranking from their website, 2021 ranking is useless) these guys most probably will get a bye in the first round unless there are exactly 8 or 16 wrestlers in their bracket. in case of less than 7 wrestlers it will be two groups of 3 or 4 wrestlers 57: Vangelov Yatsenko 65: Killicsallayan Skriabin 74: Kuramagomedov Demirtas 86: Dudarov Makoev 97: Conyedo Saritov 125: Magomedov Baran ---- 60: Kamal Gharibyan 67: Thoresen Sahakyan 77: Suleymanov Galkinas 87: Huklek Abbasov 97: Kakhelashvili Omarov 130: Alexuc-C. Kuchmii ---- 50: Demirhan Selishka 53: Kaladzinskaya Blaszka 57: Bullen Hrushyna 62: Cherdivara Omelchenko 68: Larroque Velieva 76: Marzaliuk Adar

interesting news, Russia replaced two Olympic champions Vlasov and Chakvetadze very late . https://unitedworldwrestling.org/article/chekhirkin-replace-vlasov-european-og-qualifier I wonder what's the reason behind this ... injury or doping ? there is no other way to explain this

oh man, what a drama. I'm happy for Portugal but that was a VERY cruel way for Croatia to lose the quota. France had 3 goals lead in last 4-5 minutes ...

if Norway plays normal and beat Korea Chile needs a +4 goals win to qualify. the good news is they already have that ! the bad news is Brazil still has 45 minutes to make up for the terrible start.

I think Canada qualified only 1 player for the singles competition. the other guy in mixed doubles doesn't count.

Samsonov withdrew. not sure if he was really injured or he was sure about the qualification via the World Ranking. btw with both Indian players out already, it's a sure thing that India will qualify 2 in Asia. one of them as the South Asia rep. and the other one as the best runner-up.

not sure what happened between Day 1 and Day 2 but after a very disappointing first day, Iranians won almost all of their matches today, 3 (out of 4) made to the Gold medal match. good start for the sport of Karate after a long long break. hopefully they can continue other K1 events like this (specially that one in Portugal as the last ranking event)

just for info, 2 months ago France and Portugal were exactly in the same position. that was Norway in World Championship, now it's Croatia. 2 months ago France played fair and serious and helped Norway advance to the QF. even though Portugal is a pretty good team, they are capable of beating a full squad motivated France as they did in Euro.

by taking a quick look at the entries , I think these guys are my candidates to qualify. top 2 and 2 next best guys. this is only in freestyle. it was just hard for me to pick favorites in Greco. will be a very close competition, I will write more when we have the brackets. 57kg: -- 65kg: -- 74kg: -- 86kg: -- 97kg: -- 125kg: -- in Greco this is just the list of favorite wrestlers in no order, I tried to make the list as short as possible. there are some other good guys in the entry list with relatively good chance to qualify. 60kg: 67kg: 77kg: 87kg: 97kg: 130kg: ps: my knowledge is very limited about women's wrestling