merlinsbeard

Disgrace. I can only describe Turkish wrestling at this olympics with this word. We are yet to win a match (not including repechage) and 3 of our eliminated wrestlers were world champions. Disgrace. I hope the responsibles for this idiocy will answer after the olympics but I doubt that

Because we live in decadent and nasty world where EVERYTHING is allowed.

M92kg
 
Qualifiers- 4
 
Bracket 1
 
My pick- Narek Manasyan (3) .
Other Contenders- Sadam Magomedov (8) , Soheb Bouafia (10) .
Interesting bracket to start with multi time European medallist starting as slight favourite. He will meet Odai Al Hindawi (18)  or the awkward Victor Schelstraete (14)  in the last 16. Meanwhile recent European medallist Sadam Magomedov opens his account against Nyamdorj Otgonbold (29)  or German based Noori Silab (22) . Soheb Bouafia has to come through Jung Ha Neul (25)  and Serhii Horskov (23)  to meet Magomedov in the last 16. All three of Manasyan, Magomedov and Bouafia will believe they should take this quota albeit Bouafia has lost to the other two. Magomedov’s win over Bouafia was a split decision win in Serbia so I’m not sure it actually means much in this context. I think Manasyan is the favourite here but in 3 attempts going back to Tokyo qualification he has never quite managed to get over the line and reach the Olympics despite his talent and that potential fight with Schelstraete would make me very nervous.
 
Bracket 2
 
My pick- Mateusz Bereznicki (9) 
Other Contenders- Murcahit Ilyas (12) , Adrian Paoletti (16) , Alexander Okafor (17) .
We lack a clear favourite in this weightclass and there are numerous potential outcomes here. Mateusz Bereznicki off the back of an impressive performance at the 1st world qualifier opens up with a very tough fight against Adrian Paoletti who has a legitimate chance to qualify all 13 weight classes for Australia. The winner of that fight would then meet Peter Alwanga (31)  followed by Alexander Okafor who has had some bad losses of late. On the bottom half of this bracket Murcahit Ilyas makes his return to the Turkish squad after an extended absence. He has two tricky fights between him and the quota fight probably against Yan Zak (21)  and Daniel Guzman (20) . Bereznicki has reached quota fights at both of the previous qualifying tournaments so he seems like the reliable pick to qualify but I’m not sure about this particular one.
 
Bracket 3
 
My pick- Loren Alfonso Dominguez (5) .
Other Contenders- Julio Castillo (4) .
The veteran Julio Castillo has one last shot at making his fourth Olympics and while the draw could have been kinder its not too bad. He starts off with David Michalek (28)  before meeting Erkin Adylbek Uulu (19)  followed by Marlon Hurtado who he has beaten before and as such Castillo should expect to at least reach the quota stage. Loren Alfonso Dominguez has a similar path difficulty wise meeting Johnathan Tetteh (27) , Marko Calic (15)  and Sanjeet (13)  on his way to probably meeting Castillo. Alfonso probably is the more talented boxer and while I hope Castillo can get over the line I will reluctantly pick the Tokyo 81kg medallist.
 
Bracket 4
 
My pick- Georgi Kushitashvili (1) .
Other Contenders- Jamar Talley (2) , Rogelio Romero (6) , Vagkan Nanitzanian (7) .
None of the first 3 brackets were that strong and sure enough the last bracket is nightmarish. Jamar Talley has a straightforward path to the quarter finals with just the unknown Ali Fathigovashini (26)  and probably Regarn Simbwa (24)  in his path. Meanwhile Vagkan Nanitzanian meets Rogelio Romero in a heavyweight (hahaha I’m so funny ) last 32 fight before the winner meets Georgi Kushitashvili who has looked much better at 92kg winning Strandja and only losing to Lazizbek Mullojonov in Busto Arsizio than he did at 80kg at European games. Kushitashvili has beaten Nanitzanian twice already this year and I suspect would also beat Romero. I would give Jamar Talley a legitimate shot at beating Kushitashvili though and whoever wins that fight will be a medal contender in Paris.
 
Projected qualifiers- Narek Manasyan , Mateusz Bereznicki , Loren Alfonso Dominguez , Georgi Kushitashvili .
 
M92+kg
 
Qualifiers- 4
 
Bracket 1
 
My pick- Fernando Arzola (2) .
Other Contenders- Narendar (12) , Gerlon Congo (13) .
Fernando Arzola has been very flaky since winning silver at 2023 worlds but the draw has seemingly been kind to him here. He opens up against Javier Cruz (22)  before meeting Byeknur Khali (30)  for a spot in the qualifying fight. Narendar and Gerlon Congo have a fascinating opening encounter with Narendar having won this matchup on a split decision when they met last year. Whoever wins would then face either Gilbert Kabamba (23) , Willys Mendoza (16?)  or Younes Bouhdid (28) . Mendoza is a strange one as he replaces Christian Salcedo who would have been one of the strongest boxers in this division at this tournament and I can’t find anything on him, no results, no nothing so . Anyway the likely scenario is that we end up with Arzola fighting Narendar for a quota with Arzola having won this matchup comfortably before.
 
Bracket 2
 
My pick- Davit Chaloyan (7) .
Other Contenders- Petar Belberov (8) , Danis Latypov (10) , Martin McDonagh (11) .
I’ve think I’ve picked Davit Chaloyan to qualify twice before but hopefully third times the charm. He has a tough fight first up against the experienced Danis Latypov before facing Rouzbeh Safari (17)  or Keddy Agnes (22)  if he can come through Latypov. Meanwhile veteran Petar Belberov who replaces Yordan Hernandez  (with the two Bulgarians having beaten and lost to eachother this year) meets the improving Martin McDonagh in the last 16. This should end up being Chaloyan vs Belberov in which case you would have to trust Chaloyan but an upset in this bracket wouldn’t shock me.
 
Bracket 3
 
My pick- Danabieke Bayikewuzi (1) 
Other Contenders- Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui (3) , Dusan Veletic (4) , Ahmed Hagag (6) .
Danabieke Bayikewuzi was denied qualification in Italy by a cut and should start off here with a win against Jonas Jazevicius (19) . I don’t know where Ahmed Hagag has been so far during qualification but anyway he is here now and meets Dusan Veletic in a high quality fight. Veletic beat him at European champs with the potential caveat that those championships were in Serbia. Veletic vs Bayikewuzi should be a fascinating fight in the last 16 but I would lean towards backing the Chinese boxer. Recent European champion (beating Veletic in the final) Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui has an easier path to the quarter finals meeting Doni Foreman (24) (what happened to Alexis Barriere?) and probably Muhammad Abroridinov (20) . It would have been very surprising at the start of qualification if either of Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui or Bayikewuzi missed out but at least one of them will now.
 
Bracket 4
 
My pick- Luka Pratljacic (5) .
Other Contenders- Dmytro Lovchynskyi (9) , Ifeanyi Onyekwere (14) .
This should be European bronze medalist Luka Pratljacic’s quota to lose. He meets Mark Ahondjo (31)  or Kennedy St. Pierre (27)  in his first fight before meeting the winner of Dmytro Lovchynskyi vs African champion Ifeanyi Onyekwere. That fight will be Pratljacic’s toughest as he would then meet has been Nigel Paul (15)  or world youth bronze medallist Stylianos Roulias (18)  for an Olympic spot.
 
Projected qualifiers- Fernando Arzola , Davit Chaloyan , Danabieke Bayikewuzi , Luka Pratljacic .

Great final Losonczi vs Cengiz. One of the best of all WCH. 

Here you go, if you can open it
 
https://www.trtspor.com.tr/canli-yayin-izle/trt-spor-yildiz/

Vinesh Phogat becomes the first Indian women to win multiple World Championships medal. 

Pole dancing should be added next after breakdancing. Viewership among youth will reach 100%.

And before tiktok it was snapchat, before that Instagram, before that twitter, before that Facebook, before that chat rooms and before all of them video games and before that even TV was being talked about as a reason for ‘the youth’ being less interested in sport
 
People have more choices than ever before but sport and the Olympics is still huge
 
 

Olympic Tournament should have 16 teams not 12

While this is super true, the fact that core Olympic events are getting cut down or even dropped, things like skateboarding and breakdancing are getting their place, sorry but watching 10 year olds getting 3/10 at most and winning gold is ridiculous, the annoying attempt to be liked by “young generations “ is ruining the games

Unpopular opinion: I find karate much more interesting to watch than judo. 

I actually really like kata's inclusion. It's very different from anything else in the Olympics.

I think it was the flag of the La Rioja province in Northern Spain. 

Let's be honest. Relays are a waste of quotas, which are already being cut anyways. Should be 12 at max, because the rest tends to be utterly non-competitive.

The funny thing is that Turkey is kind of a newcomer, but a medal was not actually something unexpected. In fact, I expected a lot more from them. This bronze medal is still a historic achievement, but given the quality of their gymnasts, they could have walked away with four medals instead of one. A lot of missed opportunities here, for sure.

I'm actually a lot more impressed with Armenia. Turkey spends a lot of money on gymnastics, but Armenia indeed has a small program with little hope of success. The fact that one of their gymnasts got a medal is mindblowing.

Really cool to see Ferhat win a medal. There is still hope for small aka new gymnastics nations

About the finals: I totally get you. It's the weirdest edition of the Olympics I've ever witnessed. As a silver lining, at least, after years of the same old countries on the podium on the women's side, we finally had a big diversity of nations with a medal: Brazil, Japan, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium and South Korea, along with Japan, ROC and China, as expected. On the men's side, it actually felt like something was missing. Verniayev was out due to doping, Uchimura had a terrible performance, Nagornyy was mostly disappointing, the Swiss didn't even qualify for the finals, the Ukrainians had the worst possible Olympics in their lives, the Turkish performed badly in the finals -- except for Arican -- and, of course, Dalaloyan was injured and did absolutely everything he could, but still it felt like he's capable of a lot more. 

About Brazil: Rebeca got two medals, one of them gold, and both Zanetti and Nory failed, so I'm not only happy; I'm overjoyed. I'm only sad for Flávia. Of course she didn't deserve a medal here, but she works so hard and I hope she gets at least a medal at the World Championships before retiring. Maybe her foot will heal quickly enough for her to be able to go to the World Championships this year...
 

I forgot there were still 3 QFs left. They will be included in tomorrow's update.

Turkey should be 7, we were 6 yesterday and today we lost a boxing qf

Nice, a medal for Turkey. After all the bad luck from the previous day, it's good to see they have a medal now.

Wow this indifference to wrestling in the forum is frightening.
 
Comgratulations to Lopez, he is incredibly fit and strong, I would say even more fit and stronger than 2016. This is incredible for a 39 years old.
 
Cuba had an amazing day with two finals, 60 kg was real surprising. 

Crazy performance from Mete, so proud of him, still cannot believe he gets the gold, I think he was less excited than I was during the finals 

Crazy performance from Mete, so proud of him, still cannot believe he gets the gold, I think he was less excited than I was during the finals 

Men's Individual Recurve
Final Results     Mete GAZOZ     Mauro NESPOLI     Takaharu FURUKAWA       Gold Medal Match     Mete Gazoz   6 - 4  Mauro Nespoli    Bronze Medal Match     Takaharu Furukawa   7 - 3  Tang Chih-Chun    Full Brackets Here Ranking Round Results Here

Crazy performance from Mete, so proud of him, still cannot believe he gets the gold, I think he was less excited than I was during the finals