MHSN

well well, if we replace UAE with Saudi Arabia this is the EXACTLY the group I didn't want. I can't believe why we always fall in the same group with certain teams! South Korea AGAIN!? this is 4th in a row after 2010, 2014 and 2018! Iraq ? Syria ? Lebanon ? I really don't feel comfortable playing these teams. the way they play alaways makes things complicated. but from the sporting point of view looks like we are favorite to qualify from this group. I just hope they learned their lesson from the previous round to not relax at the start of the competition.

oh well I'm just sure that Iran will lose all 3 games and will finish last I think it depends on the rosters, and also these 4 new teams but France is of course one of the favorites

someone from the Philippines could answer this better. but they just have a weird idea of how to assemble a national team. they have a pro league called PBA. sometimes they don't release their pro players for the national team. (and their pro players, their A team lost by 60 to Serbia at the 2019 World Cup ) back in 2011 they hired a Serbian coach Rajko Toroman and gave him a bunch of kids (same as the current team) and after some years that team was supposed to make them qualify for the 2012 Olympics. (that team did OK but finished 4th in Asia) they heard something about other countries having their NT players together for a long time. so they think they really have to "keep them together" for a long time. I'm not really sure about the current team but I assume they also train and play together like a club. I believe they are preparing these kids for the 2023 World Cup which they are going to host. at least that's their project.

I guess I know these guys still that was against Philippines Z team. they were bunch of amateurs. a random club from Belgrade should beat those kids by double digit. I only watched the last 5 minutes, I don't know if Serbia had a bad day or those kids under Tab Baldwin had a great day (most probably both) but still that was the biggest surprise of the competition so far. btw things are very random with the Philippines basketball. one day they can bring Croatia to the overtime and the next day they can lose to Qatar. but I really didn't think having a close match against Serbia with this squad (of amateurs) is an option for them

bunch of kids from the Philippines almost beat the great Serbia. wow I don't know which alphabet I should use to explain this Philippines team. but I think none of these guys are playing in PBA . most of them are amateurs and yet Serbia had a very hard time against them. I was expecting a +40/50 win.

the ITG (inside the games) article claims they want to keep 96kg quota which makes sense that will be the weakest weight without most of the favorites. but I'm not sure what will happen if they withdraw 96kg quota. (or somebody else gets injured or suspended. that's always possible in this sport) per norm if they remove Colombia. Cuba will move up to top 8. so the available quota should go to the next best weightlifter from Pan-America which is Brazil. but there is something in the qualification rule that says if withdrawal/ban happens after 25 June they won't update the ranking, so I assume in this case they simply give the available quota to the next best athlete which is indeed Greece.

It's almost clear that Iran is going to send 66 athletes to Tokyo. from this list of 63 you have to remove Bahman Askari unfortunately but add Sorayya Aghaei (Badminton), Farzaneh Fasihi (Athletics) and Mehrshad Afghari (Swimming). another one will be added Mehdi Pirjahan (Athletics) of course some of them are not official yet. our Karate federation is desperately trying to save Askari but they already know they have no chance. it seems he proved he didn't take it intentionally but still that will only reduce his ban, won't save him for the Olympics. that guy in swimming also reached the OST mark which I believe is not enough to guarantee you a spot in the Olympics but since Iran has no other swimmer I believe he is safe to go. if nothing happens Iran will have 53 male and 10 female athletes in Tokyo. so this will be the biggest number of women for Iran at the Olympics. took a look at the history 1948-1960: None 1964 (4): Athletics 3, Gymnastics 1 1968-1972: None 1976 (4): Fencing 4 1980-1992: None 1996 (1): Shooting 1 2000 (1): Shooting 1 2004 (1): Shooting 1 2008 (3): Archery 1, Rowing 1, Taekwondo 1 2012 (8): Archery 1, Athletics 1, Canoeing 1, Rowing 1, Shooting 2, Table Tennis 1, Taekwondo 1 2016 (9): Archery 1, Athletics 1, Rowing 1, Shooting 4, Table Tennis 1, Taekwondo 1 2020 (10): Athletics 1, Badminton 1, Karate 2, Rowing 1, Shooting 4, Taekwondo 1

ITG claims 67kg and 96kg. which means Poland will qualify at 81kg (and TPE at 61kg)

yes. oops, I was meaning something else. used the wrong words. I meant tackling at that height is dangerous. no matter ball is there or not and thanks Ukraine

I feel pain even watching that. that deserves months of suspension. and the ball was nowhere near. his reaction was even more disgusting

just one, Amir Hossein Zare (Wrestling) won silver in YOG and we believe he has a very good chance to medal in Tokyo kind of interesting that his opponent in YOG final Sergey Kozyrev will be in Tokyo too. in 2016 we had two 2014 YOG Olympians in our delegation. (one of them won a medal in Rio) but nobody from 2010 YOG made it to 2012 SOG in London. ------------- also if we consider 2010 and 2014 YOG Olympians we have two of them in 2020 delegation Ali Aghamirzaei (Canoeing) - 2010 Najmeh Khedmati (Shooting) - 2014

well not really, Iran lost that match intentionally to avoid India in the semifinal. they also won two other matches very narrowly for that purpose (to have a very low points difference) Kabaddi has terrible organization, anybody knows when they will have the next world cup? they don't even have a proper website! and not a global sport yet. almost doesn't exist outside of Asia. and top 2-3 teams beat the rest very easily. for example I know when Iran has to play any team in the world except India, Pakistan and South Korea they don't even warm up properly as they know a win is already in the bag. the sport has some potential . it's not similar to any other sport which is a good thing but still a very long way to go to even think about being an Olympic sport.

so only athletes capable of top 8 finish can go to the Olympics ? that's weird and stupid. he is a World Junior Champion and in few years can be a medal contender at the world level. maybe even in Paris 2024. this is very stupid to deny him this chance to gain such an important experience. do they know lots of those "top 8" at the Worlds are not going to the Olympics?! from what I saw one of them tested positive for doping and 3 of them are not going. the 8th athlete who is actually going to Tokyo lifted 403kg. maybe that counts in his favor. btw in case NED rejects the quota. that goes to Israel. fortunately that won't be problematic. Weightlifting is not a head-to-head sport.

he is Armenia's biggest chance for the gold in Tokyo. of course his trial can wait ! actually since that wasn't intentional (I mean the crime) I believe even the victim's family is probably OK to let him go.

Armenia registered his name over World Silver medalist in another weight. I think that pretty much shows he is cleared to compete.

IWF awarded 3 unused host quotas to 61kg: Rojas 73kg: Al-Humayd +109kg: Kuworge so they indeed gave those quotas to the next best NOC in each weight without a single quota. @heywoodu any chance the Netherlands accepts the quota?

Can they put the finals in the first day of the competition when the grass still looks good ?

since the first edition of this "Continental Cup" system whoever beat Iran in the men's side qualified for the Olympics eventually. the same happened for Australia this year. so the key to qualify for the Olympics is to get Iran as early as possible in the draw

I see. thanks, wrestling used to have the same system from 2000 to 2004 . groups of 3 as much as possible with maximum 2 groups of 4 but my main question is how the seeding works ? only top 13 will be seeded and the rest will fall in the groups randomly ? or there will be pot 1, pot 2, pot 3 based on the ranking ? obviously our girl is capable of beating only few of these players.

can somebody explain the Badminton competition format in Tokyo? I know it will be round robin. but how many groups ? how the seeding works ? I have my own reasons to be interested in this

The great Abdulrashid Sadulaev picked up the 3rd defeat of his career today in Aliev tournament in Russia. but before people get too much excited I have to say that was a walkover defeat he reached the final but didn't wrestle Magomed Ibragimov (Russian-Uzbek) in the final. Russian coaches claim because of a small injury obviously the Russian tank is NOT in his best days. he struggled in that tournament against wrestlers he usually eats for the breakfast. he lost to Kyle Snyder in 2017 World Final mostly because he was too small for this weight at the time. yesterday I saw him "beatable" for the first time since 2017. at the moment his gold in Tokyo is not a sure thing anymore.

well to me that's a stupid policy but at least this time I have absolutely no problem with that any female athlete qualifying for the Olympics is a good news for me. even if she loses 21-2 21-3 or something like that. I noticed the Dutch girl is also named "Soraya" so that's from one Soraya to another Soraya.

don't give me false hopes but I really hope he does. he really deserves it. worked too hard for this.

Iran Badminton Federation confirmed that Sorayya Aghaei is going to Tokyo. it seems some NOCs rejected quotas. (I assume NED and FIN) she will be the first ever female badminton player from Iran at the Olympics. I wasn't sure if she is healthy and ready to play. she herself was out of competition for something like 2 years. had to go through two surgeries but it seems she is recovered now.

Today was a really bad day for Iranian sport in general. we had two doping cases among our national team members. while official media still refuse to use their names. everybody knows who they are. Bahman Askari, World Champion in Karate and one of our biggest gold medal chances in Tokyo. that was really shocking. I really don't think you need doping in Karate. our Karate federation claims he proved he doesn't use the drug intentionally but still the suspension is inevitable . they just hope to reduce his ban. I'm afraid he will also miss the Asian Games where he was the defending Champion. the other name is not revealed yet. officially it's a member of women's taekwondo team. but I know that's Youth Olympics Champion Yalda Valinejad. she got caught by our local NADO and her suspension has nothing to do with international organizations. she was supposed to participate at the Asian Championship few days ago but all of a sudden pulled out after the draw. which was suspicious at the time. now we know why she did that. I believe using the drug has something to do with our coach pushing he to cut lots of weight in order to make the 57kg. doping is a bad thing but doping for such a young athlete is much worse.