MHSN

but yeah Iran was also TERRIBLE in Greco-Roman, winning only and only 4 medals out of 10 weights and finishing 5th in team ranking ! even though we missed some of our top wrestlers but still that was almost our A team in Greco-Roman (in freestyle only 2-3 from the A team) not long ago we won Olympic title in 55 and 60, lightest weights in wrestling but now our lightweight wrestlers can't even pass the first round in Asia !! but Iran won't also dominate the freestyle competition, Iran wrestling is in turmoil right now, our federation president (who is also the freestyle team head coach) just resigned as well as half of the coaching staff and other federation members. we don't even know who will manage the team in the tournament here. not sure if you guys remember that "Karimi-Russia" match in World U23 Champs when he lost intentionally to avoid Israel, that was very obvious with Iranian coaches screaming "Ali you should lose, you have to lose" that match created so much controversy here UWW eventually banned him only for 6 months but our wrestling federation president asked for a change in this policy. he said if we really want to avoid them we have to scream that loud. not acting like a coward , creating funny excuses if not we better compete with them. he wasn't happy with the response he got from the government, that's why he resigned.

He got married after Rio and since then he is a bit "softer" on his opponents yes he moved up to 97kg for the worlds and lost the final to Snyder but even before that he almost lost the Russian Championship final. but refs saved him. with UWW adding two more non-Olympic weight classes. he moved back to 92kg. which is more fit for him, he is still the best wrestler in the world but he is not as dominant as he used to be. the question is which weight he will pick for Tokyo 2020. 86 or 97 ?!

I just read in the news that an Italian team was training in Iran national wrestling camp (they call it "Wrestling House") and that Cuban guy was among them. apparently he had few tough training sessions with one of our best guys in this weight and made him pissed off the expert analyst considers him "someone very tough but still not a treat since he doesn't know pure wrestling techniques yet. but when he learns more he will be a medal contender" I assume this is him , in "Wrestling House" he just won a silver in Ukraine but had to say he didn't face a qualify wrestler and got teched in the final, so our expert is probably right about him. on other hand Kudiamagomedov also finished 3rd after losing to one of our guys Ghasempour but Kudiamagomedov is a very good wrestler, Sadulaev at peak of his career (when he was eating everybody alive) had a tough match vs him in Russian nationals before the Olympics. for whatever reason he always had problems with Iranian wrestlers (unlike Chamizo) so I'm fine with him wrestling for another country but Kudi will be a medal contender for sure but I always thought he is a bit overestimated in international wrestling.

This guy might have Iranian heritage but he is not Iranian. Italy can take this one too

I really don't think so but I know FIBA did that before so that won't be a big surprise. but I hope this is not true, cuz I was hoping Iraq being eliminated in 1st round and our loss to them doesn't transfer to the next round. even though Asian Qualifiers are quite easy with 7+1 spots , we can qualify with or without one more defeat but still ...

and no change in qualification system ? top 4 in world ranking plus next best from each continent (should be in top 16) ? in this case there is a good chance for Korea to be in top 4 which helps Iran to qualify easier. even tough I know this is too early to think about that

Yeah I was following them today, but missed the final , just forgot it as I was watching basketball World Cup qualifiers that was great for Iran beating great teams Italy and Hungary but yet again they lose to Korea. I don't know if it's technical or mental . I would expect a closer match at least. but still second place is a great result. I wonder how is our chance to qualify for Tokyo in team event. I assume they will reduce the number of teams per each weapon since they added two more events (or maybe not ? 8 was already very low, we can't have a team competition with 6 or 7 teams)

so you are telling me that Quidditch rules make more sense than ISU Mass start rules ? yeah but was supposed to be a rare thing. scoring 15 goals more than your opponent. You know I had this discussion with my friend (who introduced me to those books and was a die hard fan) million years ago when I was at high school. the whole thing was fiction but the only thing I was questioning was those Quidditch rules. even when I was reading a fiction book I was still a sport fan.

yeah but lapping the whole group is a huge thing in those events and deserves such huge reward. here they give max 5 pts for each sprint, we have 3 sprints, means max 15. yet they award 60-40-20 for top 3 finishers !!! what's the point of those sprints , they don't change the podium at all. they affect only from the 4th place

Hi guys, you can count me too, hope to not finish almost last this time

I don't know how much you guys are familiar with Harry Potter books and that so-called sport Quidditch but this mass start events remind me of that why ? because in that game, you have to score goals but they don't really matter , because you have to catch the "Golden Snitch" to win the match, (10 pts for each goal and 150 pts for the snitch) in this mass start. those sprint points are just for fun, after all the top 3 finishers in last lap get the podium

That was nice to see our Sabre guys on a World Cup podium after a while. even though Pakdaman lost a 12-9 lead in semifinal. I don't know why but they almost always lose to these two Koreans Kim and Gu. Abedini also had a good day beating Curatoli but he ran into Pakdaman and lost convincingly. another guy Rahbari also lost a close match to the world champion Szatmari, good results for all of them in general after failing to get good results in recent tournaments.

looks like after Frank Chamizo , Italy wlil have another world class freestyle wrestler, Shamil Kudiamagomedov 2016 Euro Champion just wrestled in Ukraine tournament under Italian flag.

and probably the Olympics. this World Cup is the main qualifier for the Olympics and the Olympic qualifying tournaments. Croatia still can gather a better team to beat Romania and Netherlands to at least make it to the second round.

for the World Cup ? no wild card this time. all 32 teams (31 + host China) have to qualify themselves.

The 2020 Olympic Host Japan probably won't qualify for the 2019 World Cup. as we know FIBA has to approve the host team's level to let them participate automatically. Japan lost to TPE at home today, they are last in the group and their chance is really slim to advance even to the next round !

the Belarus flag

no because of blatant cheating they always do still I support them (like other Asian countries) when they don't host

Got hit by an invisible sniper

Wierer from 1st place to almost last place and then again the first place !

well done Wierer

I would wait for the confirmation, you are dealing with Korea, remember. edit: great. 3rd medal for Fontana

unlike what you think , Iran has a long history in Alpine skiing (not any other winter sport, only this one) and there are so many Alpine skiing courses near Tehran. this is a popular sport here (but only for fun, not for a competitive sport) this is really shameful being still very weak in this sport the worst part is they are showing the competition live in TV and consider "finishing the race" as a great success.

Really shameful to see Iranian skiers going like this, he could go much faster but he raced like a coward. just wanted to finish it. almost all skiers after him are getting DNF but I give them more credit for at least trying to do their best.

watching Germany vs Sweden, both shirts look a bit similar ! (specially in front where the German shirt is also yellow) sometimes hard to say who is who