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3 now ! Payam Ghobadi beat Mbar and Sansum to make the semifinal and win a bronze medal

His chance is more than good ! Actually I consider him the second (or even maybe the number 1) favorite for the gold in Rio. he is just destroying everybody, he was in much better shape than Khodabakhshi in past few months but still we have 2-3 months left and I expect our guy to peak at the right time. I just hope Iranian coaches know few tricks about how to beat him , btw on other hand his coach is also Iranian (former coach of Iran NT) which makes things even ! also I have to name this CIV guy Cisse, he is as dangerous as Beigi. actually Iranian coaches are very concerned about him.

We had the Greco-Roman World Cup in Iran yesterday and Today, which won by Iran quite easily since other teams didn't send their top wrestlers (Iran would win the even after all) still beating Russia 8-0 is something. even if it wasn't even their B team. but most importantly in 3 or 4 weights this tournament was supposed to act as the Olympic qualifier at 66kg, both Noroozi and Zeidvand dominated their opponents , It's hard to pick one of them, I guess they will send both of them to Poland, it's also possible to pick Noroozi because of his past. at 85kg: Nouri won the trials was terrible here and this gives a great chance to Akhlaghi to make it to Rio. Nouri is only good for local competitions, I think they will probably pick Akhlaghi but sending both of them Poland is also an option. at 98kg: Rezaei and Aliyari were supposed to wrestle each other after the World Cup but Aliyari losing to a below average Turkish wrestler will probably cancel that match, Rezaei himself wasn't that convincing in the final but still he is the Olympic Champion ! I highly doubt they give Aliyari another chance. at 130kg: Bashir BBJZ was good here, they were supposed to evaluate his situation here, Ghasemi-Monjazi won the quota for Iran and he was absent here. with good performance of Bashir, I think the best decision is sending both of them to an international competition to determine the better wrestler Sourian (59) and Abdevali (75) are already selected.

She has chance for medal, even Gold, she already beat both Jones and Calvo, she won one of Grand Prix events but she is still too young and winning Iran's first ever medal at the Olympics put a lot of pressure on her shoulder. beside that from what I noticed she gasses easily after few matches. by my calculations, she will face either Hamada (JPN) and the host nation girl and the other one in quarterfinal, I will be happy with a bronze and expect a bronze for her, Gold is too much to ask,

This is somehow a good news, which means he won't be the last athlete in the ranking and Farzan won't face him in the first round. still it's dangerous which means this guy can get good results in Rio and advances to further rounds ! Farzan most probably will face the Thai guy in the first round

Today was the last day of Kazakhstan Judo Grand Prix which is somehow the last qualification event before the deadline (we have masters later but only top 16 can participate) by my calculations Iran luckily qualified 3 athletes in Judo Javad Mahjoub (100kg) Saeid Mollaei (81kg) Alireza Khojasteh (66kg) as Continental Quota Mahjoub and Mollaei are by far the best Judokas in Iran and this kid Khojasteh was just lucky to win a silver in Asia and qualified for Rio only with one good result ! I just hope they send him to Rio , I have doubts because there is Israel in his weight and since he has no chance at all, they may not even send him to avoid future problems ! this is what they did to Javad Mahjoub 4 years ago when he was a youngster. they didn't send him to London by a fake injury.

Maybe because of the level of foreigners are better this time ? or maybe because Iranians are not good in sprint events. honestly I don't follow Cycling that much, I hear the same names for something like 10-15 years ! and they always accuse each other of using drugs.

Actually there are more in wrestling ! even though I don't consider some of those guys above as "naturalized " Espinal lived most of his live in Puerto Rico. or Dlagnev is much more American than Novachkov or Ivanov being Bulgarian (they raised in USA) Artas Sanaa from Ibragim Saidov from Amarhajy Mahamedau from Mamed Ibragimov from Magomed Ibragimov from Khetag Gazyumov from Magomedgadzhi Khatiyev from Aiaal Lazarev from Eduard Soghomonyan from

It was like that when I checked the page yesterday morning but now they also disqualified him and replaced him with Guinea Bissau https://unitedworldwrestling.org/rio-2016

Here are the draws for both men's Wrestling World Cups this year Greco-Roman Group A Russia Belarus Germany Kazakhstan Group B Azerbaijan Turkey Ukraine Iran Freestyle Group A Russia Georgia Turkey Mongolia Group B Iran Azerbaijan India United States ----------- I wonder which countries will take World Cup serious this year, Iran will send almost a full team to both Cups, I say almost because some stars will be missing, the legendary Sourian won't be there in this home World Cup in Shiraz. while in freestyle Reza Yazdani won't be there because of his injury and we may have few more stars missing. most countries were busy with Olympic qualifiers this year , I expect a weaker World Cup this year, in Greco it will be probably between Iran and Russia (Russia usually takes Greco World Cup serious unlike freestyle) while in freestyle like in past few year it will be between Iran and USA unless Russia sends a good team.

Yes that's true if you ask me. by my understanding IND will qualify only if Ukrainian guy Zaseev comes clean. You were right about the article, they finally published that without saying anything about 125kg qualifiers ! still you never can be sure with these guys. they can take any possible (or even impossible) decisions to surprise everybody !

I was thinking UWW also can solve this mess from another point of view. maybe they'll take the highest unqualified country from back at the Euro Qualifier where the crime took place in this case David Safaryan (ARM) is the other bronze medalist who can qualify in place of UKR at 66 but for 120kg, they need two unqualified wrestlers while one of bronze medalists qualified later, in this case Iliev (BUL) will take one of the spots. Gagloev (SVK) and Arzoumanidis (GRE) both finished 5th, Gagloev has 1 classification point while the Greek has zero. after all I don't think it makes sense to give those spots to bronze medalists from this last tournament ! that was European quota and European countries should get it but you never know, UWW can surprise everybody !

Yeah actually 8 out of 12. I didn't expect that myself, I would be happy even with half of that probably.

So far we have 5 positive drug tests in these qualifiers, all of them in freestyle which is surprising ! let's see what should happen here "Per Rules" even though rules are not clear about this . * that Egyptian guy in African qualifier won't be a big problem, they will most prbably give the quota to the bronze medalist from GBS * Ukraine quota in women's 58kg freestyle will most probably go to Moldova, bronze medalist But situation is more complicated for remaining 3 spots * Ukraine won quota in men's 65kg FS, if they disqualify him his quota will go to Georgia, but Georgia also qualified in Mongolia . if they want to go through the rules, his quota will go to Novachkov (BUL), who also qualified today !! bronze medalist today Molinaro (USA) will get his spot. * in 125kg , both Euro finalists tested positive, so both bronze medalists should qualify, Iliev (BUL) and Ligeti (HUN), but the problem is Ligeti also qualified in Mongolia. in Mongolia Iliev (BUL) finished 4th and if they considered him "Already qualified" we have to take a look at both 5th placers Greece and Kyrgyzstan to see which one has more classification points Arzoumanidis has 6 while Lazarev has 15 which means KGZ has to get the last quota. of course this is a weird situation and UWW can take any possible decision to surprise us but what I wrote is the most logical call.

This Chinese guy is just amazing, destroying everybody including former world champ Aldatov ! I knew him for a while but he was in another level today.

Yeah I remember that but wrestling is not logic, at the same tournament Garcia was the only one who really made problems for Batirov. while Batirov beat the rest (incudling Bucur and Habat) easily. yeah Garcia was terrible in repechage but it happens sometimes. btw considering his age , it will be hard for him against younger opponents. btw some people already know that but I have to repeat David Habat is an American wrestler (from Slovenian heritage) nobody can underestimate him. the same goes to the Uruguayan guy in top half and also Abdurakhmanov of UZB at 74. no chance for Gill he has Saritov in his half. Pineda has to beat 3-4 wrestlers better than himself, almost impossible. outside of Garcia I believe Tagziev has the best chance among the Canadians, with Ncube behind him. Tagziev's chance is even more because his first 3 matches are not supposed to be hard for him.

Here is my preview about freestyle draws but first I have to say we have less depth in freestyle comparing to Greco-Roman which means the level of competition is quite low ! makes harder to predict, but still there are some great wrestlers not qualified yet. 59kg I think in easier top half , the winner of Buruian-Atli match in first round will make it to Rio. can't see any other competition for them (maybe Ewald or the Chinese guy), Atli is slight favorite here. in bottom half we have two very good wrestlers Shuptar and Andreyev. both world medalist, I think the quota will be between them but still we have the Kyrgyz guy, Mejias, Metreveli and a guy from Uzbekistan I expect Turkey and Ukraine to qualify. 65kg we have 32 wrestlers here ! still the top half is still easier despite having 16 wrestlers in each half ! it's hard to pick a clear favorite here becuase there are 4-5 good (but not great) wrestlers there , Garcia (CAN), Perpelita (MDA), Bucur (ROU) and Habat (SLO) all have chances here and maybe the guy from Kyrgyzstan. Bucur has a clean path to the semifinal. still I think Garcia has more chance. we have Molinaro, Zhumagaziyev, Novachkov, Safaryan, Radulov, Nurykov and few more good wrestlers from Japan, France and Korea here. it's really hard to pick someone they are all at the same level. Novachkov might even got the quota if they disqualify the Ukrainian wrestlers. on other hand Radulov (UKR) is very good but he is probably not prepared as a last minute entry. Safaryan is a former world champion. I expect Canada and Belarus to qualify. 74kg out of remaining wrestlers, I see only Rashid Kurbanov as a serious medal treat in Rio and he is not here ! Uzbekistan is sending Abdurakhmanov (raised in USA , world bronze medalist) here, he is the top favorite in top half, have an easy path to quarterfinal probably against China, his semifinal will be probably against Ukraine or Germany, I consider Ukraine as the second favorite behind him. again there is no clear favorite in second half, but a bunch good wrestlers almost in the same level. Brzozowski, Sufiev, Ncube, Nagy, Friev, Grigoryan, even the new Belarus guy, beside all of them I'm curious to see this Uruguayan guy Palacio ! he is an American wrestler with Uruguay heritage. I won't surprise if he qualifies (still not a top favorite here) . really hard to pick one snce they are all at the same level. but I go with my favorite wrestler here , our Tajik friend. I expect Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to qualify. 86kg The biggest name here is a former world champion Aldatov. this is his last chance and I think he won't miss it.by saying that he still has some competition in top half. Ismanov in second round, Murtazaliev/Harth in Quarters and probably Ianulov (or Japan) in semifinal, I think Ianulov is the only real treat for him. he lost narrowly in Serbia. bottom half is much easier this time, wide open for everybody. I had to check the list so many times to pick one ! if Tagziev survives his first match he has an easy way to the semifinal (I have no idea about the Russian guy of France but his CV doesn't look good) in the lower quarter I see Korea, Latvia, even FInland and Romania with chance, Stefan (ROU) used to be a good wrestler but did nothing special recently. I expect Ukraine and South Korea to qualify. 97kg Only in this weight , I didn't have hard time to pick two wrestlers ! Khudelbulga has a dream draw in top half. nobody serious on his way to the semifinal and there he only has to beat India or Germany to make it. Shala of Albania also can make a surprise here, this Mongolia guy was terrible at home two weeks ago which makes me give chance to those guys as well. still he is the clear favorite. with Saritov around, this is useless to talk about the rest, he will qualify most probably, I think the only one who can challenge Saritov is Yanouksi, that will be a close mtch. I expect Mongolia and Romania to qualify. 125kg We have a very weird situation here, 3 wrestlers are here while they shouldn't ! Ukraine and Belarus qualified the weight before but they are still here (and still not clear who will qualify instead of them) Brazilian guy Jaoude also qualified in Greco-Roman but still he is trying his chance (which is an absolute ZERO) in freestyle they have a naturalized Armenian wrestler who will probably take his place in Greco-Roman. I won't surprise if they simply qualify all top 4 wrestlers here, so it's better for everybody to take bronze medal matches serious ! but if they want to give spot to someone Iliev of BUL deserved it more, but he is still here ! OK let's back to the competition without considering all these crazy things.we have some surprising names in top half, Saidov (BLR) and Krupnyakv (KGZ) !! both from Russia, both considered be a big name in 97kg, both once got banned for doping. Saidov was the biggest nobody ! I heard so many things about him and now he has to qualify the weight AGAIN for Belarus. we also have Chintoan and Matuhin here, plus Vivenes. in bottom half it will be between the new guy of Ukraine, Greece and Slovakia. and maybe Iliev. I expect Belarus and Ukraine to qualify again

Damn, I just found another one ! Belarus also has a rep at 125 ! Ibragim Saidov ! which means Jalilov also failed in Serbia ! both 125 finalists, which secures a quota for Iliev (BUL) here. I have to check if there are more

haha that will make a mess I just found another one ! they also have a rep at 65kg ! means Kvyatkovskyi also failed a test (apparently all 3 of them failed on Meldonium) again the Georgian guy who finished 3rd qualified later in Mongolia they have 3 options now 1) 5th place finish in Serbia, Arzoumanidis (GRE) 2) the Other bronze medalist in Serbia, Safaryan (ARM) 3) 4th place in Mongolia Novachkov (BUL) I wonder which one of these guys deserve it more ?! in 125kg case 1) 5th place finish in Serbia, Gagloev (SVK) 2) the Other bronze medalist in Serbia, Iliev ( BUL ) 3) 4th place in Mongolia , again Iliev ( BUL )

Interesting that Ukraine participated at 58kg despite winning the quota in Europe there is only one way to explain it, the girl failed the drug test but why Moldova is also wrestling here ? I think it's easy to find why, you know it's not a sure thing yet, still they have to test the B sample , hearing process etc, they couldn't deny Moldova's chance to be here, in case Ukrainian girl can survive the whole thing which is VERY unlikely. btw I took a look at men's draw (will write about it later) I see Ukraine has a representative at 125kg, which means Zaseev failed a drug test ! what they want to do with that ?!!! Ligeti who will qualify in his place, already qualified himself in Mongolia ?! maybe Iliev from Bulgaria (finished 4th in MGL) will qualify instead ?! or maybe they can give it to Gagloev (SVK) who finished 5th in Europe behind Ligeti (actually didn't show up in bronze medal match) , lol poor guy that's why you always have to wrestle. even in this non-important bronze medal matches, one day you will need that bronze medal !

Eisele lost fair and square but Hassler match was another story, this match was held right after Basar-Kudla semifinal which was also controversial, at the score of 1-1 all Turks in stadium were expecting a caution for Germany but surprisingly Refs did the right thing and gave the caution to the Turk, things got ugly and their fans even threw few things to the mat. after that match refs had no other option to give the next one to Turkey !! I don't say it was a clear robbery but at the score of 4-2, Hassler was attacking for the entire 2nd period , still no cauton for Ildem, one caution could help Hassler to win the match by a turn 4-4.

haha, for personal reasons, I don't like cheaters . let's not write the names the here. wow Sourian is flying today, destroyed the American guy 8-0 in the final in just 36 seconds !! in general he didn't wrestle more than 5 minutes today !

Yeah not bad at all, actually I'm happy at least two of my predictions came out wrong.

Yeah finally where was this Sourian last month ? You can see how much mental preparation matters in sport. Sourian was just a shadow of himself in Kazakhstan and Mongolia but here after getting so many positive energy from inside country he just showed his true face. even though I have to admit his plan A just worked well here, he teched all his opponents in almost a minute ! I don't know what would happen in second period. now he has 100 days to prepare himself, he is still the best by far technically but in wrestling you have to be in shape physically as well. also very thanks to Tsymbaliuk of Ukraine for beating the Israeli guy now for the very first time we can have a full men's team in wrestling, I know some people are probably surprised to hear that ! but Iran was never a super power in Greco-Roman, we just became good in recent years thanks to coach Bana.

Sourian had another quick 8-0 win in a minute against Germany, his plan A is working so far but most important the Israeli guy lost to Ukraine (the country of his origin) , man it was too nerve wrecking, Tsaryuk was leading 2-2 at some point and it was like he is going to win the match. now Sourian only hast to beat this Ukraine guy. on paper it doesn't look that hard. btw the live stream is terrible they can't do even this simple thing