MHSN

12 minutes ago, Pavlo said:

i was sure that Iranians are bigger patriots...BTW....it`s not players to decide if they want to play for the coach..., they don`t have to LIKE him, it looks so amateury, sorry to say. Do you know if Bahrain also has some foreign players?

Yes indeed, but we always had/have this problem in handball, these group of players boycotted the NT before, Iman Jamali even switched nationality to play for Hungary ! having problem with the coach is just an excuse, they simply don't care about the national team, Handball is the only sport we have such problem, as you said Iranians are patriots.

no, Bahrain is good in handball (in Asian level of course) , as far as I know they don't have any foreign players.

1 minute ago, Pavlo said:

i don`t get it cuz Spain has won with Italy while NED has lost....too complicated, ok, so 3-team table decided 1st place, while direct match the 2nd while results with ITA decided about 4th place??

 

Oh my....

lol yeah, I already posted the PDF book about the tie breaking rules earlier in this thread.

first they determine the top team (Italy), then, 2nd and 3rd and since we have a tie for 4th place (they tied each other so no head to head match) then their results against the top team (Italy) determine the 4th place,

Just for Info, Germany advanced to the quarterfinal over Kazakhstan, not because of their better GD. just because they lost by 6 goals to Italy and Kazakhstan by 11.

just a reminder about weird tie breaking rules in this sport

18 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

IHF still lists Esteki in the team, but that's old then I guess:

 

This is the wide roster, they waited for him until the last day, (actually his name is still in their 16-man list) but he claims he can't make it. Mousavi who plays in Romani (according to the list ) also won't be there. They didn't bother to come and play for their national team. The federation suspended the other Esteki (who plays in France) for the same reason as he didn't come to play in the Asian Championship.

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

 

What happened? Every top player refused to play and now it's something like a B-team or a junior team?

Not the whole A team but all of players who are playing outside of Iran. in fact all important players, and this is not the first time, it happens almost every time !

long story, but this time they don't like the current Croat coach and don't want to play for him, beside that they probably know there is no chance for Iran, they don't bother to play. even though officially our best player (Sajjad Esteki) claims his Qatari club didn't release him which is not true.

btw, if it wasn't for World Selection team (aka Qatar) Iran would qualify for the Olympics from Asia.

Iran will be punching bag of Group B. Our complete team could compete at least to get respectful results but now ... this team is as bad as the team they sent to Asian Championship. (probably much weaker without Sajjad Esteki) they will probably lose by more than 20 goals, maybe even more 

I don't think I ever see peace in our handball community in my lifetime ! only in handball I see our top players refuse to play for the national team. 

12 hours ago, dcro said:

Here it is! The circus starts at 10:30

 

I checked their website once again and her name is still there so she is lucky.

I watched so many wrestling competitions and such behaviour means disqualification but they showed her mercy 

Per start list of Asian Taekwondo Qualifiers, Cambodia has a very good chance to qualify in +67kg, their athlete only has to beat one match against Tajikistan to qualify !

beside that Afghanistan has chance in both men's weights, their 58kg entry is also a former world medalist, Mahmood Haidari. he was banned from WTF for age shaving

Augusto Midana most probably will qualify in wrestling for GBS tomorrow.

DId anybody here watch 63kg final ?! This Nigerian girl Oborududu is probably the stupidest person ever !! she got into the final and secured the quota then she lost the final 7-7 to a controversial call (but I believe the call was correct) and then the way she was protesting and crying and doing stupid moves after the match was quite weird. they could EASILY disqualify her, she didn't get an automatic disqualification since the center referee after all managed to raised her opponent's hand (mandatory in wrestling) but I won't surprise if they disqualify her later (a bit unlikely though)

We already know 11 out of 12

4 NGR

2 EGY

2 TUN

2 CMR

1 SEN

CMR most probably will get the last spot 

100% record for Egypt ! 8 out of 8 so far. They had only 2 female wrestlers today

Start list of the Asian Qualifiers

http://www.ma-regonline.com/tournaments/823/Asian-Qualification-Tournament-2016-for-the-Games-of-the-XXXI-Olympiad

with this, it will be disaster if Iran don't qualify both girls for Rio. their opponents are even below average in Asian standards. Khodabandeh needs just one win (against probably Philippines) while Kimia needs two wins against unknown athletes, they are both top seeds here.

interesting to see Nikpai for Afghanistan once again, they also have Haidari in 58kg who is a former world medalist, 58kg is in a very high level.

Egypt won 6 quotas (means a full Greco team) while Australia, Morocco and Algeria won two each.

I could watch some matches today, I think the only wrestler here who has a chance to make noise in Rio is Haithem Mahmoud Fahmy of Egypt. Both Australian wrestlers (Kumar and Popov) are extremely weak, I think everybody want them for the 1st round draw in Rio.

Women's competition looks more competitive with Nigeria, Cameroon and Senegal.

6 minutes ago, MantaRaymarc said:

As you mentioned in the second stage, only the top six non-qualified table tennis players from Asia will take the remaining spots. Am I right?

Those who qualified can't participate in 2nd stage, (even their country can enter 1 instead of 2) so no more condition, top 6 will qualify,

6 minutes ago, MantaRaymarc said:

As you mentioned in the second stage, only the top six non-qualified table tennis players from Asia will take the remaining spots. Am I right?

Those who qualified can't participate in 2nd stage, (even their country can enter 1 instead of 2) so no more condition, top 6 will qualify,

9 minutes ago, MantaRaymarc said:

If the winner of each regional zone will qualify for Rio, how will you be able to select the other six table tennis players per gender to complete the line-up among the Asians?

in first stage, we have separate tournaments for each zone, winners qualify (each country can enter max 4 here)

after that, in second stage we have another tournament to determine other 6 quotas. here each country can enter max 2 (those who qualified in 1st stage can enter only 1)

except for 1st stage of South Asia  , the rest of the tournament will be direct elimination. in south Asia since there are only 4 players, thy will play in round robin

It seems India already qualified 1 male and 1 female player for Rio !

here is the start list for the Asian Qualifiers

http://ittf.com/Ol_Qual/2016AS/2016_AQT_Entries.pdf

per rules, in first stage we will have separate tournaments for each zone and the winner qualifies for Rio, India is the only country registered from South Asia, so it will be a competition between those 4 Indian players in each gender.

Egypt most probably will qualify a full Greco team, they already qualified 5 and the other one will qualify too. Australia also qualified 2 as expected.

in 3 weights we had direct elimination system, and it's clear who qualified

66: EGY and AUS

85: EGY and ALG

130: EGY and AUS

but other 3 weights were in round robin

59: EGY qualified for sure, ALG will qualify only he beats EGY in last round robin match, which is not going to happen unless they fix the match ! in a normal situation EGY and MAR will qualify

75: MAR qualified for sure, the last spot is between ALG and EGY, again EGY will qualfy in normal situation but if MAR loses by TF, Fall or Walkover to ALG, in this case EGY is out 100% and can't do anything himself ! but I don't think it happens,

98: EGY qualfied for sure, the winner of ALG/MAR match will join him

20 minutes ago, ChandlerMne said:

Do you know is it meldonium or some other prohibited substance?

If GR team is caught then it is sure that we will have same situation in FS. Russia really didnt need that.

Honestly I can't remember

btw, apparently and per Mamiashvili's claim (RUS wrestling president) only two wrestlers got caught for doping, Sergey Semenov and Evgeny Saleev. Mami claims it was just misunderstanding in Reuters article !

From what i see, Australia has a good chance to qualify two wrestlers here, they were really lucky with the draw.

back in 2012, only two Oceania wrestlers managed to qualify and since I still remember that tournament, both qualified by poor luck and accidentally. maybe this time we will have more from Oceania.

Brackets are out for Greco in Africa/Oceania qualifires

59: only 3 wrestlers in round robin ! EGY for sure, MAR/ALG for the other spot

66: 6 wrestlers, AUS or NZL will qualify !!! bottom half is a bit harder

75: 4 wrestlers in round robin, EGY/ALG/MAR are favorites

85: 7 wrestlers, ALG is the favorite for the top half, EGY in the bottom half

98: again only 3 wrestlers for 2 quotas !!

130: 6 wrestlers, 2 in top, 4 in bottom half

I hope for more wrestlers in freestyle because with this low number, some wrestlers will get undeserved quotas. EGY and ALG will most probably complete (or almost complete) Greco teams

PS: Morocco has Iranian coaching staff, so I hope they qualify some wrestlers here

-----------------

btw I see a former world bronze medalist Sahit Prizreni (from Albania) is listed for Australia in freestyle. he can't win a medal but he can be a bit competitive at least. I remember before 2008 Olympics he asked for American citizenship but failed, apparently this time he managed to get citizenship this time in Australia ! it will be his 3rd Olympic if he qualifies.

1 hour ago, MantaRaymarc said:

 

Hi Mohsen, do you know how will the Iranian wrestlers be selected for Rio 2016? And is the list of shooters final and irrevocable?

Hi, let me answer first about Shooting , no this list is not officially final. if these athletes show very poor results in future competitions they can be replaced but honestly I don't think it happens, these athletes will go to Rio 99%

For wrestling, each weight has its own story, for most weights we will have trials inside the country in April, while in some weights for different reasons the Olympic team member will be decided in an international competition. We had series of pre-trials and now two wrestlers are remaining in each weight (more than two in some)

Freestyle

57: Hassan Rahimi and Reza Atri will go to an international tournament later to decide. Since Rahimi needs more international competition and also they don't want him to cut weight twice.

65: Ahmad Mohammadi and Meisam Nassiri, wrestle-off, best of 3 in April

74: Hassan Yazdani and Mostafa Hosseinkhani , wrestle-off, best of 3 in April

86: In this weight we have 4 wrestlers, Alireza Karimi, Ehsan Lashgari, Meisam Jokar and Reza Bayat, they will compete in Iran in round robin format.

97: Reza Yazdani and Amir Mohammadi, wrestle-off, best of 3 in April

125: Komeil Ghasemi and Parviz Hadi will go to an international tournament later. that wasn't fair to make them wrestle in April since Ghasemi just won the quota for Iran and won't be ready to wrestle soon.

PS: those who won the quota for Iran at 74kg and 97kg (Abbas Tahan and Alireza Ghasemi) didn't even make it to the final Olympic trials !

Greco

59: NOT QUALIFIED YET. After Sourian failed, they will send Saman Abdevali to Mongolia, if Saman manages to win the quota there wll be a match between him and Sourian, otherwise Sourian will probably go to Turkey to try his very last chance.

66: Nothing clear yet, Norouzi just qualified few days ago, they will probably send him and 1-2 challengers to an international tournament, maybe Zeidvand and Binangard.

75: Saeid Abdevali is already selected. he beat his closest rival Payam Boyeri twice recently and both comfortably, and since Boyeri is injured and can not make it to April trials.

85: We have 6 wrestlers here. they will wrestle in round robin format in April, Habibollah Akhlaghi, Mojtaba Karimfar, Yousef Ghaderian, Hossein Nouri, Davoud Akhbari and Davoud Abedinzadeh.

98: Ghasem Rezaei and Mehdi Aliyari, wrestle-off, best of 3 in April

130: NOT QUALIFIED YET, they will send either Babajanzadeh or Gasemi-Monjazi to Mongolia and I have no idea what will happen if they qualify in this weight which is clearly Iran's weakest men's weight.

1 hour ago, ledon said:

I think in this case the other group will be a group of death: Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Syria .

 

By the way I would pick the same group with the exception that I would prefer Syria over Thailand, just because of the weather in Thailand.

I think the only big difference is between China and UAE. for other pots I can say both teams are almost in the same level, we prefer Iraq and Uzbekistan for some other reasons (not because they are weaker than QAT or KSA) Japan is even stronger than Korea but we still want them

Iran never qualified to the World Cup twice in a row, I just hope they break the curse this time. the current team looks much better than 2014 WCQ.

OK, only 1 in semifinal , we officially suck in boxing, they are getting weaker and weaker every year, I wonder why I still follow this sport !

btw, I was following Mehrabi-MGL on live score and two judges scored all 3 round exact opposite of each other !! how is that even possible ?! are they watching the same bout ?

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Moradi got suspended for doping, then came back and lifted 20kg more than the world champion? Yeah, you're right about me not liking him  

I remember Salimi's injury, that looked horribly painful to watch...

 

Are there some Iranian weightlifters (of a decent level of course) who are actually "down to earth" guys instead of "divas" like Salimi? 

 

Yes he did, there are videos of him on the net lifting 200 + 240 . (probably few kg heavier than 94kg and that was in training but still this record is 35kg higher than 94kg gold medalist.

I have to say, with the exception of Salimi, Rostami and Nasirshalal (London silver medalist) the rest are OK, they were 5 but one of them Anoushiravani (who is now the head coach) rarely participated in their coup and Mohammadpour was just a kid (poor guy had a serious elbow injury which can even end his career) I can name Molaei (2013 world silver) or Taghian, even Moradi or Babari if you count dopers lol they didn't get into all these stories and stay out of them.

btw it will be hard for Iran to find 5 competitive weightlifters this time (back in Rio we had 6 medal favorites and won 4 medals) Rostami will take one of the spots, Moradi too if he gets cleared by IWF, I hope for Molaei but he also had a surgery back in 2014 and I'm not aware of his current shape.as for Salimi we have to wait couple of months to know his new situation. I think they will also send someone in 105kg, maybe Barari. or Nasirshalal or Kourosh Bagheri's nephew Emad Bagheri.

here are possible pots for the next round per FIFA future World Ranking

Pot 1: Iran, Australia

Pot 2: South Korea, Japan

Pot 3: Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan

Pot 4: UAE, China

Pot 5: Qatar, Iraq

Pot 6: Syria, Thailand

I think we won't have a group of death. and once again we can't play Australia !!! the last time we played them was 18 years ago !

Personally I prefer Japan, Uzbekistan, China, Iraq and Thailand. in our group.

Japan is stronger than Korea for sure but all football fans here are sick of playing Korea everytime ! even though we have a very good record against them recently. KSA and Uzbekistan are almost in the same level but I prefer Uzbekistan since KSA plays dirty. beside that they will make a story about playing in Iran once again.

UAE is definitely stronger than China, so I have no doubt I prefer China as for Qatar and Iraq, I think we prefer Iraq to take revenge for that unfair 2015 Asian Cup defeat on penalties. I wonder if Iraq continue to play its home games in Iran if they group with us !? Syria and Thailand are almost the same, Thailand is more predictable while Syria (despite all troubles they are facing) is a hard fighting team.