MHSN

according to Iran Weightlifting federation, only 9 weightlifters remain in the national camp, 5 of them will go to Rio 85: Kianoush Rostami, Ayoub Mousavi 94: Sohrab Moradi, Ali Hashemi 105: Navab Nasirshalal, Mohammad Reza Barari, Kia Ghadami +105: Behdad Salimi, Bahador Molaei

OK, we have a start list now on UWW website, here is the list of notable wrestlers in my opinion. Greco 59kg Sourian (IRN) Angelov (BUL) Modos (HUN) Amoyan (ARM) Lizatovic (CRO) Islamov (MDA) Tsymbaliuk (UKR) 66kg Chunayev/Aliyev/Mamadov (AZE) Etlinger (CRO) Zhadrayev (KAZ) Levai (SVK) Vardanyan (UKR) Yuksel (TUR) Zheng (CHN) 75kg Cebi (TUR) Pyshkov (UKR) Eisele (GER) Zugaj (CRO) Kobonov (KGZ) Tsurumaki (JPN) Kazakevic (LTU) Rosengren (SWE) 85kg Noumonvi (FRA) Gajiyev/Tursynov (KAZ) Hrustanovic (AUT) Kudla (GER) Basar (TUR) Gegeshidze/Tsirekidze (GEO) Zugaj (CRO) 98kg Gadabadze (AZE) Abdelfatah (BRN) Hassler (GER) Iskakov (KAZ) Timoncini (ITA) Saikawa (JPN) Baldauf (NOR) 130kg Euren (SWE) Chugoshvili (BLR) Kajaia (GEO) Deak-Bardos (HUN) Metodiev (BUL) Mizgaitis (LTU) Banak (POL) Freestyle 57kg Andreyev (BLR) Shuptar (UKR) Nadyrbek Uulu (KGZ) Akgul/Atli (TUR) Metreveli (ESP) Buruian (MDA) El-Ouarraqe (FRA) Mejias (VEN) 65kg Safaryan (ARM) Nurykov (BLR) Novachkov (BUL) Garcia (CAN) Zhumagaziyev (KAZ) Molinaro (USA) Habat (SLO) Bucur (ROU) Perpelita (MDA) Kamoi (JPN) Siemakin (FRA) 74kg Abdurahmanov (UZB) Chykhladze (UKR) Ncube (CAN) Nagy (HUN) Grigoryan (ARM) Innokentev (KGZ) Brzozowski (POL) Sufiev (TJK) Zhang (CHN) 86kg Aldatov (UKR) Ismanov (UZB) Ianulov (MDA) Stefan (ROU) Kim (KOR) Murtazaliev (ARM) Tagziev (CAN) 97kg Saritov (ROU) Yankouski (BLR) Khuderbulga (MGL) Kim (KOR) Yamaguchi (JPN) Nurov (MKD) Thiele (GER) 125kg Lazarev (KGZ) Chintoan (ROU) Gagloev (SVK) Iliev (BUL) Matuhin (GER) Arzoumanidis (GRE) Vivenes (VEN)

and now Romania has a high level Russian wrestler, former world medalist Albert Saritov will wrestle for Romania this weekend ! that's a shame these wrestlers can change their "so called nationality" in less than a second.

Is there any other official squad announced ? for countries like Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc ?

ah, I would like to see Leicester players winning the title in the stadium, not in front of TV ! but still what a great story

And they will take more quotas from other countries, Russia, Kazakhstan, Moldova etc. after finalizing 2015 cases. at least that's what they have to do per their rules but of course IWF is not among the clean sport federations. actually one of the dirtiest. btw Azerbaijan has to give up one quota for the same reason, so if only Kostova qualifies , they have to give up her spot per rules ?! right ?!

Guys, the whole calculations are pointless until they announce the final list of 2015 WC. by my count Japan will finish in top 24 after that, this can change the whole thing in Asian Qualifiers. does anybody calculate the scores without Japan ?

Yeah sure, I watch fencing for years and never thought one day I will see Iran in a World Championship medal match. 4th place is still great , but as you said 4th place is always bitter sad. mostly because I think Romania was quite beatable for them. Baher gave a 9-1 to Dolniceanu and 5-1 to the other guy. he pretty much lost the match but it happens, he is less experienced and younger than Abedini and Pakdaman, I still can't believe how these guys lost to Vietnam in Asia !!!? it just shows they are not consistent yet. they can challenge the best of the world though. except for Abedini the rest are quite young . the future can be even better. I just hope Iran also improve in other weapons.

well they just lost to Hungary , the score was 31-30 or something then turned to 44-30 !! probably only Iran is capable of losing so many back to back poins in a world championship semifinal. our 3rd guy Baher put Iran in trouble and then both Pakdaman and Abedini were terrible in their last matches. maybe that was too much to ask, Iran is not in that level to be in a world championship final.

wow, from losing to Vietnam in Asian Championship quarterfinal few days ago to beating USA in World Championship quarterfinal today that will be unbelievable if they finish on podium but even 4th place is a historical result for them.

I have to check the list of all unqualified wrestlers first , as for Germany I was expecting Ohler and Azizsir to qualify already. specially Ohler. he is probably exhausted now, Germany may want to try another wrestler. Eisele was also so close. Freestyle is much easier than Greco-Roman in general because of lack of depth, that gives Germany a chance, in general I think Germany can qualify 1 or 2 more male wrestlers. maybe even 3. I will write a list of all notable remaining wrestlers soon but one thing makes Wrestling unique. most of these wrestlers are 6-7 kg heavier than their competition weight in their normal life. which means they have to cut weight for the competition. because of this participating in too many tournaments without time to recovery is really hard. that's probably the reason we had some surprising results in Mongolia. I think it's not only about technique but more about who is more physically fit. specially in Greco-Roman.

it happens, you are doing a great job. based on this website we also qualified a sprinter in 200m but that guy tested positive for doping in a local competition and is banned now. I assume you didn't count him otherwise we could have 44.

I wonder how come you have 45 for Iran ? Iran has qualified 43 so far.

I see 9 there ?! but you can see the names of qualified athletes in first page of this thread but I can re-write the list again Zahra Nemati - Archery Leila Rajabi - Athletics (Shot Put) / btw she is from Belarus, married to an Iranian and became Iranian Mahsa Javar - Rowing Najmeh Khedmati - Shooting (Rifle) Elaheh Ahmadi - Shooting (Rifle) Mahlagha Jambozorg - Shooting (Rifle) Golnoush Sebghatollahi - Shooting (Pistol) Neda Shahsavari - Table Tennis Kimia Alizadeh - Taekwondo for Rajabi, Ahmadi and Shahsavari it wll be their second Olympics, Nemati who will be Iran's flagbearer in Rio, is a Paralympic champion. I don't thnk any other Iranian girl qualifies but there are still slim chance to qualify more in Athletics and Archery,

She probably doesn't have a surname, her name is simply Memo. The naming system is strange in some Asian countries.

These 3 girls I talked about are Kimia Alizadeh (Taekwondo), Najmeh Khedmati (Shooting) and Elaheh Ahmadi (Shooting) Alizadeh despite being just 17, won Iran's first ever women medal in an Olympic event in 2015 World TKD Championship. She won gold in one of World Grand Prix events after beating Olympic Champion in the final, she is among the favorites for sure, but winning medal or not will depend on the competition day. Khedmati (also 19) Won gold in Incheon Asian Games , that was Iran's first ever gold medal in an Olympic individual event in Asian Games. She is consistent, usually finishes in top 8 in all World Cups she entered. in the same event we have Elaheh Ahmadi, (6th place in London). of course I know Shooting is highly unpredictable but these two girls are both capable of reaching the final and anything is possible when you reach the final

Yes sure, That's the main reason, most people who don't like the Islamic Republic say phantom stories about how good we were before the revolution, but the truth is even before 1979 revolution Iran was very weak, mostly for traditional reasons it was considered a "bad thing" now in new Iran despite having a religious government, the society is different. some of sport federations take their women program as serious as their men's program (still no all of them tough, not even half of them) another thing is, they re-started women's sport around 1990 with sports like Shooting (which was possible to partcipate with Islamic dress codes) now they even participate in football and volleyball ! but of course they only can get good results in sports that these dresses won't make obstacles for them like Shooting, Archery, Taekwondo this time in Rio we even have hope to win medal. we have Youth Olympic Champion, Asian Games Champion and a former World number 1 among these 9 athletes.

Mahsa Javar advanced to the final of Asian Rowing Qualifier in Korea and therefore at least secured a boat for Iran in Rio in this sport. still no a sure thing for her. since each country can qualify only one boat per gender, which means if Iran also qualify in Women's Lightweight Doubles event, they have to chose one of them, (they will most probably pick the Doubles event) we will find out that tomorrow, but most probably we will have one rower in Rio. disappointing in general. but with this, Iran will have at least 9 female athletes in Rio, which is a record, in London we had 8 and this 9 number is the biggest ever for Iran. good thing all of them qualified by merit, no wild card. here is the number of Iranian girls in each Olympics. 2012 - 8 2008 - 3 1996-2004 - 1 1988-1992 - 0 1984-1980 - Did not participate 1976 - 4 1968-1972 - 0 1964 - 4 1948-1960 - 0 Remember we had no qualifiers in old days and from 1996 to 2004 Iran only participate in Shooting via wild card so in fact we had our first ever "qualified" female athlete back in 2008. in that Olympic Iran qualified in Archery, Rowing and Taekwondo.

Less than two years ago Iran was #1 in men's single sculls in Asia, now after a year and half , our guy most probably won't even finish in top 8 to qualify ! looks like Iran won't qualify more than one female rower !

my preview about freestyle draw 57 looks like a balanced draw, I see Andreyev (BLR) and Yatsenko (UKR) as favorite in top half , there are other good wrestlers in top half like Metreveli or Safarov, but I think these 2 will determine the qualified wrestler in top half, hard to pick one of them. we have a very important first round match between Tomar of India and Akgul of Turkey the winner most probably will wrestle Hasanzada of AZE for the Olympic quota in semifinal, beside these 3 guys we have some other good/average wrestlers Mejias of VEN and Chirtoaca (MDA). I expect Belarus, Turkey and Ukraine to qualify. 65 This is for sure the toughest weight in freestyle, so many notable wrestlers are still without quota. top half is easier as usual, we have former world champion Safaryan, grandpa Kantoyev, Novachkov and Iakobishvili. if I'm not wrong Kantoyev won a world medal 16 years ago for Russia. he is the only "fresh" wrestler among the favorites in top half, Iakobishvili was so close to qualify in Serbia. still I consider Safaryan and Novachkov as favorites here, it's hard to pick one of them. in bottom half the most notable name is Adam Batirov, we also have Gor of Turkey who won world medal at 70kg, the American Molinaro was also great in their national trials , Sava of Moldova is a 2014 World medalist, we also have Garcia (CAN) and Bucur (ROU) and Maeda (JPN) , that guy Habat of SLO is also not that bad, after all he grew up in USA. I expect Armenia, Bahrain and Bulgaria to qualify, (I hope I'm wrong about Bahrain, not a fan of mercenaries) 74 having only 9 wrestlers in top half automatically makes it easier, I see Nedealco of MDA as the top favorite here , interesting Belarus once again didn't enter Ali Shabanov,i saw this guy Chytadze before and didn't impress. I think the quota is between MDA, Armenia and that Chinese guy Zhang. we also have Innokentev here, he used to be very dangerous when he was younger. we have two clear favorites here, Demirtas and of course Kurbanov. Demirtas lost by an accident in Serbia last week but cutting weight once again makes Kurbanov the favorite against him. maybe only the Ukrainian guy can make problems for them. I expect Uzbekistan, Moldova and Turkey to qualify 86 I see 3 favorites in top half, Ianulov, Ceballos and Sagaliuk, the Ukrainian guy is new to me , he is a replacement for Aldatov. this Venezuelan guy Ceballos is good , he beat World medalists before but still I give more chance to Ianulov. this guy Cox really impressed in US trials, he can be the next Burroughs ! he is my favorite in bottom half, but he has some serious opponents, first round Armenia, Zvirbulis, Stefan, Kim, Ismanov and few more. I expect USA, Moldova and Ukraine to qualify. 97 We have a surprising new name here ! actually not a name new, a former World Champion Georgi Ketoyev ,now wrestling for Armenia !!! he was a great wrestler 5-6 years ago, not sure about his current shape. I consider him as the clear favorite here, beside him we have Ceban and Hushtyn here plus that guy Nurov from Macedonia, he is also from Russia and can make surprise here. bottom half is easier this time, the only Mongolian wrestler tomorrow will be there, so far they hosted the tournament for nothing ! Greco doesn't exist in Mongolia, both of their girls lost today and Khuderbulga is their last wrestler (they already qualified other 5), I think they will do everything to make sure this guy will make it. he is also a good wrestler. beside him I can't see any big name there, maybe Korea or Uzbekistan or even Japan can surprise him. this is mostly battle of Asians in bottom half. I expect Armenia, Mongolia and Macedonia to qualify ! 125 I think Deng of China is the favorite in top half, the Korean guy Nam and Baran of Poland are right behind him. we also have a former twice bronze medalist from Greece here but this guy to be honest is too weak. he was just lucky to win world medals before. still you can't underestimate him. and in an interesting note, Antoine Jaoude of Brazil is here !!! despite qualifying for Brazil in Greco-Roman ! I guess since they have a naturalized Armenian wrestler in 130 Greco, they told this guy to try his chance in freestyle bottom half will be between Ligeti, Gagloev and Lazarev. two of them will wrestle in very first round. beside we have some other good wrestlers from Romania and Bulgaria but I see Ligeti as the favorite here. Lazarev after him. I expect Hungary, China and Kyrgyzstan to qualify.

Some interesting facts about today out of 18 qualified wrestlers, 12 from Europe, 6 Asia (including all 3 qualifiers in 130kg) . out of 12 European wrestlers only 4 of them had wrestled in Serbia last weekend. disastrous day for Turkey , so far they have qualified only 1 Greco-Roman wrestler in Kayalp ! still no Greco-Roman quota for Poland !!! they used to be very good in this, the first Olympic I watched (1996) Poland topped the medal table in Greco-Roman ! still no quota for Croatia, they really deserved more than just 0 ! they have a good overall team (not just 1 or 2 good wrestlers) if you check 2014 medalists, two of 2014 world champions are yet to qualify, our Sourian and Noumonvi of France. Great day for China, they qualified two more , if their 66kg wrestler qualifies (who is good enough for that) they can have a full team in Rio !!! China is new in men's wrestling, this is a great result for them. here is the list of top countries with 4 or more quotas in Greco-Roman Russia, Egypt 6 China, Cuba, Iran 5 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Venezuela 4

Looks like Raheleh Asemani can't compete for her Belgium in Rio after all, the quota is still listed for Refugee team. http://www.worldtaekwondofederation.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/124-Qualified-for-Rio-20162016-0417.pdf

Too early to say, but since Ghasemi wasn't the first choice , they will probably give Babajanzadeh and maybe Mehdizadeh another chance, maybe sending all of them to an international tournament , they will announce it soon.

I'm sure there are, but for some of them their country just decided to send someone else , like Islamov, Etlinger, Chunayev (they sent Aliyev but he could not make weight), Gadabadze and I'm sure there are more.

Sourian completely dominated Angelov for 4 minutes and half and then he ran out of gas and became harmless ! the fact he had to wrestle tough Amoyan before this while Angelov had a bye didn't help at all. Angelov apparently only worked on his stamina ! Korean guy and Tasmuradov threw him easily ! who could predict we qualify 11 out of 12 weights and the only one remaining is our probably best hope for gold in Rio ?! I still think he can win the gold in Rio if he qualifies but that's a big big if now. I think sending him to another tournament is useless, he is broken now, Saman Abdevali is injured (or was injured at least) without him we don't have any other reliable wrestler to count on him for this quota ! likes of Mardani or Beheshti can't qualify the weight for Iran. only Sourian himself (not this exhausted broken Sourian) and Saman Abdevali can do it Good that Amir Ghasemi saved the day, he was the 3rd choice behind Bashir and Mehdizadeh ! I wonder if they send him to Rio or he hast wrestle Bashir ?!