MHSN

our boxing reached a new low. Kazemzadeh lost to Samoa ! even though I think the judges probably landed more punches the Samoan boxers who was just fleeing the enter time. specially first 2 rounds but ended up the winner 3-2 ! doesn't matter Kazemzadeh was terrible and had no chance in QF this way. that's interesting both of our "experienced" boxers are already out. 6 more left, I don't count much on 91 and +91 boxers we have later today, I still hope for 1 or 2 quotas with remaining 4 boxers

OK I will name 3 wrestlers for each weight in case top 2 fall in the same half of the draw. no need for the 3rd guy in weights using 2-group format. I hope I don't miss anybody. sometimes there are NCAA wrestlers not familiar for me representing other Pan-American countries and they are usually good enough 57: === 65: === really hard to pick a 3rd guy in this weight 74: in no order, I think these 3 guys are in the same level 86: === , I would put Moore in the same level as VEN guy but I don't know the new guy of Canada. 97: 125: and Greco 60: === 67: === really hard picks for me, this weight will be wide open, no clear favorite 77: in no order 87: === 97: 130: ===

that's an option and I think they are thinking about it. but that will be terrible for Asian wrestlers, this is wrestling. not tennis or volleyball when you can play another match the next day. they have to cut weight and some of them cut a lot. it's really hard to cut weight twice in a 4-5 days. but that's possible if that remains as their only option. in this case I assume some wrestling nations (like Iran) will send 2 wrestlers in each weight bcz it's almost impossible to use the same guy in the World Qualifiers in case he fails. another option is not having a separate competition but let two next best Asian wrestlers to qualify. that's even worse I'm 100% sure they won't use that silly World Ranking.

African and Oceania Olympic Games Qualifier Postponed https://unitedworldwrestling.org/article/african-and-oceania-olympic-games-qualifier-postponed

the last thing I know that UWW guys called Iran wrestling federation to "consult" with them about a solution. our federation's reaction is something like "whatever you decide, just let us participate, no matter where and when" as far as I know UWW is unsuccessful to find a host yet, they are probably thinking about "other solutions"

right now it seems there is no plan to cancel it. since the Iranian team can't come back home they are hanging around in Germany waiting for an update. (I guess team China is doing the same somewhere else)

of course, and that's a common thing for Cuban wrestlers, not much recently but it happened a lot 10-15 years ago. when UWW president was in Iran in a TV show, they even asked him about this, he said "we know but unfortunately we can't do anything unless there are proofs" ! but Mijain Lopez is not an ordinary wrestler, he is the best of the best. you would expect more pride from such a great wrestler. and his defeats were not just "walkover" that would be more acceptable, apparently those who paid him wanted a show and he had to lose on the mat. I remember in one of his Kayaalp defeats he even dived for a single leg !!! (which is illegal in Greco)

honestly I'm no doctor, maybe all ACL injuries are not the same ?! this is our doctor, right after the surgery , I wrote the summary of what he says here already. at the end he says "we are very hopefully, personally I'm 100% sure we will see her in Tokyo" t

actually the doctor claims she will be ready in less than 2 or 3 months, he claims they used a "new method" from Switzerland ! he is supposed to be a very good doctor, I hope he knows what he is talking about !

her injury was indeed serious (ACL) she had surgery today in Hanover by an Iranian doctor (the same guy who fixed Sohrab Moradi's shoulder) the doctor was confident she will be ready for the Olympics but I think whoever finishes 3rd in the ranking at +68kg will have a chance to qualify. she is probably the only female athlete we have right now with realistic chance to win the Olympic gold. (she is at least one of the favorites) but then this injury somehow ruined her chance

Sohrab Moradi and Kianoush Rostami are both scheduled to participate in the last event in calendar (before the continental champs) in Colombia, even though that won't help Rostami much. but anything more than 370kg will help Moradi. from what I heard he lifted 220/225 in CJ at training but his snatch is still a bit weak because of that shoulder. our WL federation thinks there will be no problem and Colombia event won't get canceled, but I wonder if they can even travel to Colombia ! flights are very limited these days. beside that per new IWF guideline we can participate in other continental champs. and there are strong rumors Uzbekistan will withdraw from hosting the Asian Championships. so who is going to host Iranian weightlifters ? continental championship hosts are ! Russia has VERY strict travel ban rule right now, and I wonder if any Iranian ever traveled to MRI/DOM/NRU

he is indeed a monster and always fun to watch while i still like him a lot, it's still hard to cheer for someone like him. most wrestling experts believe he lost 3 matches intentionally in his career, 3 World Championship finals, personally I'm sure about 2 of them at least. of course the Olympic gold is not for sale. he is going to win that once again. but his participation means Cuba won't be seeded here, so it's 50% possible to see him and Kayaalp in one side of the draw. which will be terrible for other wrestlers in that half.

sure, we knew that for a while. for a year actually. winning another gold (which is very possible in my opinion) will make him the best wrestler ever at the Olympics with 4 gold medals. the great Karelin has 3 gold (and 1 silver)

Entries for Pan-American Qualifiers https://unitedworldwrestling.org/article/pan-american-og-qualifier-entries I know last minute change is always possible with these entries but I assume the number won't increase, which means we will have two-group format in so many weights. (by my count at least 6) too me that's more fair. two best wrestlers falling in the same half is not possible anymore. that's probably a bad news for some weaker wrestlers hoping for some luck to qualify. I think USA and Cuba will grab most of men's freestyle (and even in some weights of Greco) quotas unless one of them is already qualified of maybe the blind draw puts them in one side of the bracket. there will be some kind of seeding but that won't change in much, it's still more like a "blind draw" but to me the most interesting name is Oscar Pino ! per rules they should not let him to wrestle here. but who cares about the rules rules don't say he will be allowed if he changes his style ! he won a quota for Cuba at 130kg Greco, now he is trying 125kg freestyle. even though I think with 2-group format his chance is very slim. Gwiazdowski and Dhesi will grab those two quotas IMO. I really feel sorry for this guy. he can be the Olympic champion (with Kayaalp getting weaker) but he is sticking behind the great Mijain Lopez and has to try freestyle which he is terrible at.

looks like FIFA is going to postpone World Cup qualifiers in Asia in March and June to late 2020. some of these matches in March are simply impossible to happen. for example Hong Kong coming to Iran ! I think that's probably a good news for our NT, while they beat Hong Kong anywhere in the world but playing crucial home matches against Iraq and Bahrain in neutral venue or empty stadiums was the last thing we would want. right now we don't even have a league.

No. maybe except those from Oceania and Africa because they are first in the line. they will award the continental quotas after the Paris tournament. that's very important . it's possible that some of those guys in the list qualify directly that can change few other things. for example New Zealand is guaranteed a quota in women's Kata but what if that girl qualifies in Paris ? I think the Oceania quota goes to some Australian girl at 61kg. and if something like that happens to the African quota too. then two available 61kg quotas are already filled before checking other continental quotas. which leaves no chance for Asian, American and European girls to qualify in that weight.

meanwhile in hospitals of Iran ...

apparently there were serious rumors about it during the last K1 event in Austria. but it seems almost a done deal now. if WKF won't replace it with any other event. the following athletes are already qualified, of course I assumed the European Championships is still on Vinicius Figueira Stanislav Horuna Sajjad Ganjzadeh Ivan Kvesic Sara Bahmanyar Wen Tzu-Yun Merva Coban Jovana Prekovic

I watched something like 10 bouts and in all of them the winner was as expected but still it was several dubious round results by some judges. the first (or maybe second) bout of the day between INA and SRI, those commentators were thinking if it should be 10-8 for SRI but then 2 judges gave it 10-9 to INA ! but yes, this is just the start. the real thing starts when we get close to the quarterfinals.

maybe you should bet on someone else. I'm trying to be very careful (mostly because of my parents, I'm living with them for now to make sure they have no reason to leave the house) even though that's not necessarily enough at least here the situation is not that bad, where I live is a big city with 2 millions population and checking today reports we had 45 confirmed cases with 6 deaths so far. and 135 more are suspected and hospitalized but then we are 20-30 minutes away from Tehran and 2 hours from Qom. that's why everybody is panicking here. because usually whatever happens in Tehran, will happen here too.

wearing mask doesn't help much if you are healthy. but that brings up another risk. you usually touch your mask with your hands and they are not always clean. since my office in Tehran is closed for 1.5 months, I only had to go to supermarket in past 2 weeks but today morning I had to go to a public place for the first time since the spread of coronavirus,insurance company actually for fixing some errors in a previous project we finished there and I think something like 40 or 50 percents of visitors were wearing masks. 70% (including myself) were wearing gloves. most people take this very seriously, I assume the numbers will drop in Iran after a week or so. but still it was a very sad image, people almost don't talk to each other (which is very non-Iranian) this time of the year couple weeks before our "new year" you always could see people shopping etc. hopefully things will get better before the new year celebration we had +500 new cases yesterday and +800 today, total number is 2336 and 77 deaths two cities are in critical condition, Qom and Rasht .

I think I can't complain much about the draw, our 4 "better boxers" are facing winnable bouts. I think we are already out at 91kg and +91kg because after China they have to face Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in QF and there is no repechage in these weights. even though they were both weak and only could qualify with a dream draw. 63kg also looks hard for our guy to survive. but I can see chances for other 5, I hope at least 1 or 2 of them qualify. the draw looks very good for Shahbakhsh (57kg) but I just don't know how good he is himself ! Kazemzadeh and Rouzbahani are facing tough opponents but that's better than KAZ/UZB

there will be box-offs when they need 5, there will be SF and F between 4 QF losers and when they need 6, only SF and both winners will qualify

First day schedule http://boxing.athlete365.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/C58D0303.pdf I assume they will publish the brackets too, very soon

Well nothing about the seeding, as I said I only know first round opponents for our boxers and I can tell you none of your male boxers will qualify with one win ! because both of your heavier boxers will face Iran in Round of 16. and there will be another Iran-China in Round of 32 tomorrow at 81kg.