MHSN

that's probably misunderstanding, nobody can enter two wrestlers in one weight ! I mean Ohler beat Ildem in Serbia and the other Turk in Mongolia. I prefer to write about freestyle weights later after the draw but in Greco-Roman all of those 3 Germans have realistic chance to qualify. if Hassler is fit he is the favorite for the quota but there is one problem that all 3 of them have to beat Turkey ! Hassler's chance is better since he has only one serious competition in Ildem. (Ohler beat him easily but things are different in Istanbul) Kudla was my pick at 85, but first he has to beat Noumonvi in second round (Azizsir beat him in Mongolia) then Hrustanovic and probably Basar of Turkey. not an easy task at all, 4 or 5 wrestlers there are capable of qualify. The same story for Eisele , he has two tough matches to qualify, first against Cebi (the guy he beat easily in Mongolia) and then Starcevic. Turks are not that nice when they host, and this guy Cebi is a world champion. Turkey used to be a Greco-Roman power, and they are still good and dangerous but so far they qualified only and only 1 wrestler ! I can promise you they will do EVERYTHING possible to qualify as much as possible here. and in Greco-Roman (unlike freestyle) refs can do whatever they want.

I'm quite sure Saudi Arabia, Syria and most probably Lebanon, Iraq and few more countries don't let their athletes compete against Israel, you never saw it happen because they are not that good to compete outside of Asia. I think in countries like Jordan it depends on athlete himself, they don't force athletes to withdraw or compete. I said it before, even if you qualify, NOC has to confirm the quota , so it doesn't happen unless he gets permission for that. about media react I can guess such headlines "Sourian sacrifices his chance to defend the people of Palestine" what you said will be written in Persian media "outside of Iran" while inside Iran, you should know media are not completely free. there are few "red lines" for them and Israel is one of them. btw they usually don't even use the word "Israel" but the "Zionist Regime"

Tell me about it btw this is not just Iran, other middle eastern countries do the same , but they are just not good enough to cmpete in international competitions and you don't see them actually here we have a Bahrain vs Israel in first round of 98kg, the Bahrani guy is a former world champion from Egypt. I won't surprise if he withdraws tomorrow, he would wrestle if he was wrestling for his own Egypt but policies are different in Bahrain.

I hope so he is good, he is a former world junior bronze medalist, probably originally from Ukraine, I expect him to win against Italy but I don't expect him to beat Ukraine in quarterfinal, but this is not a sure thing, so I give him something like 20% to reach the semies. Sourian better first thinks about his first two opponents before the Israeli guy. Lizatovic is no joke, the German guy also can causes problems for him.

Yes, in sports like wrestling with direct one on one matches you never see an Iranian competing with Israel, at least in near future. doesn't matter where and when, even in Olympic final. usually when I receive the bracket, this the first thing I check.

Yep I think he has, as I wrote that in my preview, if he wins his first match which is winnable for him, (probably 50-50) he can make it to the semifinal and in one match everything is possible. none of those wrestlers in top half are unbeatable for him.

ok here is my preview 59kg with 24 wrestlers the situation is quite unfair as we have 8 in top and 16 wrestlers in bottom half ! but luckily our wrestler is in top half this time. Sourian can't complain about the draw at all. out of his 10 possible serious opponents he got only two of them in this half, Lizatovic and Tsymbaliuk ! Sourian is the clear favorite here, even though he is in a bad shape but still I think he is capable of handle this draw, he lost in Mongolia only and only because he ran out of gas. which can also happen here if his opponents manage to tire him and resist for 4-5 minutes against him, Sourian's plan A is obviously trying to make a quick 8-0 score. otherwise second period will be really hard for him. beside those two wrestlers , he has one very serious problem in Israel ! I expect this guy to beat his Italian opponent but Ukraine can beat him in second round, but this is not guaranteed. in bottom half we will have a hell of a competition. we have Angelov, Lashkhi, Amoyan and Modos plus the Turk. people know crazy things happen whenever Turkey hosts a competition, specially in wrestling. in a normal situation I would give more change to Aneglov but despite beating Sourian in mongolia he didn't impress at all, I want to make a bold guess here, I expect Islamov of Moldova to qualify ! I expect Iran and Moldova to qualify. 66kg almost a balanced draw, in top half we have Ozel (former world medalist at 71), Vardanyan multiple World and Olympic medalists and a tough Chinese guy Zheng. plus few other guys from Moldova and USA. I would give a chance to Stas of BUL but he was terrible recently. it's hard to pick one wrestler in this half bottm half we have a very tough match in first round Chunayev vs Etlinger, I expect the winner of this match to go all the way to the final but we still have few other decent wrestlers there, the Armenian guy wrestling for France, the Kazakh guy, Belarus and Tallroth of Sweden I expect Turkey and Azerbaijan to qualify (and I hope I'm wrong) 75kg easier top half as usual, we have an interesting first round match between Kobnov and Rosengren, this guy Kobonov wasn't around for a while, I used to like him in his prime days, not sure about his current shape beside these guys we have Pyshkov of Ukraine and a guy from Belarus and another one from Bulgaria , beside them I want to give a change to Escobar of Mexico, I hope he makes it even though his chance is slim. in bottom half we have a 3 time world champion at home, Cebi which makes him a clear favorite he has to wrestle Eisele of Germany in second round, Eisele beat him in Mongolia but this time will be a different story in Istanbul ! Starcevic is another favorite in this part who can be Cebi's next opponent in quarterfinal , the winner of that match most probably will make it to Rio. but we also have few other guys like Kazakevic (who cut weight down to 75 after losing at 85) Besleaga of MDA and the Japanese guy. still Cebi is the favorite mostly because of having referees on his side. I expect Ukraine and Turkey to qualify 85kg the most mysterious wrestler is BACK again ! this Gadzhiev guy (Russian wrestling for Kazakhstan) shows himself every four year for the Olympics ! he won a bronze in London and we didn't see him in serious competitions after that until here ! I don't know about his current shape but he has a dream draw here, I see only the Georgian guy (and maybe Lithuania) as serious competition for him. the Greek guy is also not bad. bottom half is a different story, there are so many favorites here, 2014 World Champion Noumonvi, Kudla of Germany, the Austrian guy Hrustanovic, Omarov, Zugaj and last but not least the Turkish guy with their superhuman power at home. most of these guys wrestled in both Serbia and Mnogolia and failed, I expect them to be exhausted, because of that Kudla of Germany is my pick here. his second round match vs Noumonvi can be the decider. my favorite here is Hrustanovic, he beat Noumonvi at worlds and has his chance here, Zugaj was terrbie recently so I don't count on him but he has a good path to the semifinal if he beats the Turk, Basar is nothing special but he is wrestling at home, so ... I expect Kazakhstan and Germany to qualfiy 98kg There are 3 good wrestlers in top half, actually 2 and half since it's hard to consider Vala a big favorite here. so I think it will be between Hassler and Ildem. for whatever reason Germans didn't send Hassler to previous tournaments, if he is fit he has a good chance . their other guy Ohler beat both Turk wrestlers in prevoius tournaments (one of them was Ildem) The Polish guy here can make surprise we have one interestling matchup in bottom half, Bahrain vs Israel, I wonder what's Bahrain's policy in this case ! withdrawal or what ? if he wrestles, Abdelfatah has a good chance to make it, still the favorite here is Gadabadze who has a bye in first round ,we also have Rau (USA), Saikawa (JPN) and few more wrestlers from Kazakhstan, Italy and Lithuania here I expect Turkey and Azerbaijan to qualify 130kg in top half we have two favorite Euren and Chugoshvili, with Banak and Metodiev behind them, I feel sad for Chugoshvili, this poor guy was unlucky in Serbia and Mongolia, I think he is exhausted here, which makes me giving more chance to Euren who was disappointing in Mongolia in bottom half I see Kajaia as the favorite, he has an easy path to the semifinal against either Deak-bardos or Lithuania. Deak-Bardos is older than 40 he used to be a great wrestler but he is a grandpa now ! I pick Kajaia I expect Sweden and Georgia to qualify.

Actually I was talking about it with a friend, he won't do that unless they let him wrestle which is not possible, this is the federation decision, not the NOC, not sport ministry, even if he qualifies he still needs NOC confirmation to be in Rio, that's not going to happen and he is not that stupid to do that, in Iran they usually pay Israel-forfeit athletes the same prize money as gold medal winners. this is not the Olympic itself though but still.

We have one nationalized athlete who also represented Iran back in 2008 and 2012. rules in Iran are quite strict about getting citizenship, it's really hard to naturalize anybody even if our federations want it ! This girl (Leyla Rajabi) got the citizenship through marriage long time ago list of Iranians representing other countries and I'm talking only about athletes who represented Iran NT before, not Iranians born and raised outside the country or moved in a young age. Sabah Shariati - Wrestling Azerbaijan Saman Tahmasebi - Wrestling Azerbaijan Milad Beigi - Taekwondo Azerbaijan Raheleh Asemani - Taekwondo Beligum or Refugee team

History is against him, we never qualified a wrestler in last world qualifier lol, we never had a full Greco team but this time indeed he has a good draw, unlike Astana and Ulanbaatar. but there is one serious problem for him, the Israeli guy. btw people should know Sourian is the biggest athlete in Iran at the moment, and one of the best wrestlers of all time. for some non-sport reasons he has also so many enemies here in Iran waiting him to lose . that's why he was always under huge pressure but this time and this week he got much more support and headlines changed from "Sourian lost AGAIN" to "win or lose you are always a hero"

Yes it's obviously better, Chunayev cuts a lot for 66 (he is a world champion at 71) and as wrestling experts always say, these kind of wrestlers are much more vulnerable in their first match because of cutting weight, their body will recover after that. I still can't understand why Azerbaijan coach (who is an Iranian !) didn't use him before, they sent Mammadov to Serbia (who lost to Etlinger) and Aliyev to Mongolia who didn't even make weight !Chunayev should be their first choice from the start btw do you know why Lizatovic didn't wrestle in Serbia and Mongolia ? injured or something ?

Actualy your draws are pretty bad, your best wrestler (in my opinion) got the worst possible draw Chunayev in first round , the only wrestler he should be afriad of. Starcevic has Cebi on his way and Zugaj has Basar and Noumonvi. actually LIzatovic is the only one among your wrestler who is in "easier half" of the draw. I will write my detailed preview later today. btw we have 6 World/Olympic Champions in competition tomorrow Hamid Sourian (IRN) 7 / 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2012 2014 Selcuk Cebi (TUR) 3 / 2009 2010 2015 Ivo Angelov (BUL) 1 / 2013 Melonin Noumonvi (FRA) 1 / 2014 Rasul Chunayev (AZE) 1 / 2015 Mohamed Abdelfatah (BRN) 1 / 2006

They didn't announce a deadline, I expect to announce the team officially only a month before the Olympics, they probably even wait for the last day to announce an official roster because of possible injuries. They dropped few athletes from the list after the Asian Championship, they will probably do the same after the "Fajr Cup (Iran GP)" in 30 days. I already can say Rotami and Moradi are pretty safe. (because of his suspension Moradi has to participate in two official tournaments to become eligible, Fajr Cup and Pan-Ams Championship !!!) and they are all waiting for Behdad Salimi to find out his situation after the injury, if he is in good shape he is safe too. after all I expect Rostami, Moradi, Barari, Salimi and Molaei to be in Rio but still it depends on so many factors. injuries happen a lot in this sport. Nassirshalal and Hashemi also have chance if they improve their records.

I'm no expert in women's wrestling ,I prefer to not write anything about it.

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.