Iran wrestling news

[MPhillips]

3 hours ago, Lucho said:

The most likely upset is Masoumi over Zare though. The more I think about it the more I see Masoumi beating him.

Why this time?

[Window12]

14 hours ago, MPhillips said:

Why this time?

Massoumi’s results have been on an upward trajectory and he seems to be entering his senior era although Zare’s strengths are his gas tank and comparatively higher experience which may still seem him through. It feels like it will be closer than previous occasions but also too close to call for me personally.

[MPhillips]

5 minutes ago, Window12 said:

Massoumi’s results have been on an upward trajectory and he seems to be entering his senior era although Zare’s strengths are his gas tank and comparatively higher experience which may still seem him through. It feels like it will be closer than previous occasions but also too close to call for me personally.

I wouldn't disagree.

I believe at 24 Zare hasn't reached his peak yet.

I also believe Massoumi is a force.

[Lucho]

15 hours ago, MPhillips said:

Why this time?

My thoughts are quite similar to Window12's but also I feel that he has matured a lot within the last couple years. He isn't making the same mistakes he was a couple years ago and he is physically more developed for 125kg than previously. In saying that Zare has a point to prove after loosing the olympic gold but I think the momentum is in Masoumi's favour. 

[MPhillips]

7 minutes ago, Lucho said:

My thoughts are quite similar

Understood. 

[nhs67]

I still want to know if they have only wrestled three (3) times.

There are no backroom matches between these two at team camps and whatnot?

[Window12]

11 hours ago, nhs67 said:

I still want to know if they have only wrestled three (3) times.

There are no backroom matches between these two at team camps and whatnot?

None that is common knowledge or overtly in the public domain. They are from two adjacent counties is the southern shores of the Caspian Sea ( Zare is from Mazandaran and Massoumi is from Gilan) so they are products of different schools and are not as a a matter of course expected to train together and have deep familiarity with each other. In fact the rivalry does seem to spill over in the social media between supporters from Gilan or Mazandaran and does tend to get a bit tribal. This is quite different to Yazdani and Ghassempour and I understand they did train at times together and were/are very familiar with each other as they are from Mazandaran school as it were.

[Lucho]

8 hours ago, Window12 said:

None that is common knowledge or overtly in the public domain. They are from two adjacent counties is the southern shores of the Caspian Sea ( Zare is from Mazandaran and Massoumi is from Gilan) so they are products of different schools and are not as a a matter of course expected to train together and have deep familiarity with each other. In fact the rivalry does seem to spill over in the social media between supporters from Gilan or Mazandaran and does tend to get a bit tribal. This is quite different to Yazdani and Ghassempour and I understand they did train at times together and were/are very familiar with each other as they are from Mazandaran school as it were.

Yeah I think the only time they would have been training together is if/when they got invited to the camp together. Since Masoumi was a junior until fairly recently they haven't really trained together. Zare vs Masoumi and Mirzazadeh vs Yousefi vs Hedayati is honestly peak wrestling. It's a shame that only one can compete per country. On a side note is Sadegh Goudarzi coaching? I know Taghavi has joined the wrestling coaching staff but we really need a proper 74kg coach our guys are genuinely useless.

[Window12]

11 hours ago, Lucho said:

 On a side note is Sadegh Goudarzi coaching? I know Taghavi has joined the wrestling coaching staff but we really need a proper 74kg coach our guys are genuinely useless.

I think Goudatzi is coaching . I randomly come across some instagram videos of him coaching but I don’t know how active he is or which club he is doing it at.

[GrandOlm]

11 hours ago, Lucho said:

Yeah I think the only time they would have been training together is if/when they got invited to the camp together. Since Masoumi was a junior until fairly recently they haven't really trained together. Zare vs Masoumi and Mirzazadeh vs Yousefi vs Hedayati is honestly peak wrestling. It's a shame that only one can compete per country. On a side note is Sadegh Goudarzi coaching? I know Taghavi has joined the wrestling coaching staff but we really need a proper 74kg coach our guys are genuinely useless.

I think Mirzazadeh is the best in the world and he probably deserves to be an Olympic Gold medalist at the next games. But he is not a young wrestler anymore, so he needs to take his chances. His conservative, low scoring style may come back to haunt him at some critical junction. 

Yousefi's unique cardio them to death approach works at 130 because there are so many poorly conditioned wrestlers at 130 kg. It doesn't fly against Mirzazadeh and it wouldn't work against an international dominant big man (there are none around right now). He needs to solve Mirzazadeh or is his entire career is going to pass him by. 

Hedayati I think has the most technical dimensions to his wrestling. He is young and has good wins at small events against the best from the rest of the world like Riza or Oscar. Looks not athletic, body composition appears spongy/high body fat, almost like a college sumo wrestler. The best wrestlers at Greco have been supremely athletic and sculpted big men like Karelin, Tomov, and Lopez, so I don't think he'll be the next destroyer. Then again if Cuba's program folds from financial pressure and Russia continues declining in Greco, where exactly is the next person going to come from to stop him (besides Iran)? 

[Lucho]

11 hours ago, Window12 said:

I think Goudatzi is coaching . I randomly come across some instagram videos of him coaching but I don’t know how active he is or which club he is doing it at.

I hope he is running a club of some sort. We need more wrestlers of the previous generation involved in grass roots coaching. Him, Reza Yazdani, Komeil Ghasemi and Mehdi Taghavi have a lot to offer for our current crop of guys. I know Ghasemi is in India at the moment. I feel like Dabir's influence in the freestyle space is preventing our coaches from doing their job even though wrestling-wise I think Dabir is doing a great job overall.

[Lucho]

9 hours ago, GrandOlm said:

I think Mirzazadeh is the best in the world and he probably deserves to be an Olympic Gold medalist at the next games. But he is not a young wrestler anymore, so he needs to take his chances. His conservative, low scoring style may come back to haunt him at some critical junction. 

Yousefi's unique cardio them to death approach works at 130 because there are so many poorly conditioned wrestlers at 130 kg. It doesn't fly against Mirzazadeh and it wouldn't work against an international dominant big man (there are none around right now). He needs to solve Mirzazadeh or is his entire career is going to pass him by. 

Hedayati I think has the most technical dimensions to his wrestling. He is young and has good wins at small events against the best from the rest of the world like Riza or Oscar. Looks not athletic, body composition appears spongy/high body fat, almost like a college sumo wrestler. The best wrestlers at Greco have been supremely athletic and sculpted big men like Karelin, Tomov, and Lopez, so I don't think he'll be the next destroyer. Then again if Cuba's program folds from financial pressure and Russia continues declining in Greco, where exactly is the next person going to come from to stop him (besides Iran)? 

Mirzazadeh is like 25/26 years old and Yousefi is 27 I think. Relatively speaking for 130kg Greco they are still quite young. I think your analysis is pretty spot on regarding the three. However, since UWW might be changing the passivity rules for the worlds and olympics Mirzazadeh might be at a disadvantage. Especially since Yousefi and Hedayati have both looked really really good recently. But given Greco's trajectory in recent years it would be hard to see anyone aside from Iran having strong enough 130s to challenge any of these three. The only prospects I can think of would be Hamza Bakir of Turkiye, the U20 Ukrainian and another junior Hungarian as potential threats. Even Semenov is like 30 so he could still be around for a couple more years but I don't see him drastically improving at 33/34 to beat these guys entering their primes.

[GrandOlm]

7 hours ago, Lucho said:

Mirzazadeh is like 25/26 years old and Yousefi is 27 I think. Relatively speaking for 130kg Greco they are still quite young. I think your analysis is pretty spot on regarding the three. However, since UWW might be changing the passivity rules for the worlds and olympics Mirzazadeh might be at a disadvantage. Especially since Yousefi and Hedayati have both looked really really good recently. But given Greco's trajectory in recent years it would be hard to see anyone aside from Iran having strong enough 130s to challenge any of these three. The only prospects I can think of would be Hamza Bakir of Turkiye, the U20 Ukrainian and another junior Hungarian as potential threats. Even Semenov is like 30 so he could still be around for a couple more years but I don't see him drastically improving at 33/34 to beat these guys entering their primes.

I am seeing that Mirzazadeh was born in 98 which would make him 30 for the next Olympics. Yeah super heavyweights are a different in that the ones with conservative styles are in there primes from like 26 to 35 (and some can win gold even up to their early 40s) and the ones with explosive games (throws, lifts) from about 25 to 32. So I'd say he has one more Olympics left (maybe 2) in his prime. 

I'm not impressed with Hamza. I think he's just a big body that is hard to score on. Kind of like Acosta. At 23 years old, great wrestlers don't get pinned by an outside reach bronze medalist. He'll medal a lot, especially in Europe,  because someone has to and he's young.

Semenov already looks like a 48 year old truck driver living on a fast food diet, I don't think he'll age gracefully. Joking aside, he's already struggled with weight, motivation, and fitness in his 20s, I doubt he will experience a renaissance in his 30s. He also has the most lift and throw based game of any of the top super heavies (which is why he's my favorite active wrestler). Those people tend to have shorter careers (ala Karelin) as it requires enormous strength exertion and is liable to be injurious . My prediction is he won't be winning golds at 34.