Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 15 Posted October 15 (edited) Iran won the team title for Greco with 3 gold medals. No one really impressed me but Mohmedi might be helpful at 82 once Farokhi moves up Edited October 15 by Bulldozer Without Brakes
Lucho Posted October 15 Posted October 15 1 hour ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: Iran won the team title for Greco with 3 gold medals. No one really impressed me but Mohmedi might be helpful at 82 once Farokhi moves up I thought Jarkani and Yazdi have improved a lot since last year. I don't see either of them making a world team anytime soon but they are very solid wrestlers. Seydi and Kamali are also ones who I think will have a bright future ahead of them.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 15 Posted October 15 4 hours ago, Lucho said: I thought Jarkani and Yazdi have improved a lot since last year. I don't see either of them making a world team anytime soon but they are very solid wrestlers. Seydi and Kamali are also ones who I think will have a bright future ahead of them. Jarkani is not bad and could already medal at 63kg since it is a weak weight class. But Keshtkar is materially better and should win gold this year. I am happy for Yazdi but I think the 87kg field was weak this year. He is far from Mohmadi’s level and Mohmadi is basically the same age as him.
Lucho Posted October 17 Posted October 17 My thoughts on the first 5 weights in freestyle from our group Khari 61: I've never rated him much to begin with and feel like he has benefitted highly from favourable draws in previous tournaments. Beating Davino was always going to be a big ask but I wish he at least tried to shoot more. I feel like no one in Iran can coach a proper light weight for some reason. We really need to fix our talent development here. Karampour 74: From last year he has made a big step in the right direction. Again lost to either the top best or second best guy in the bracket but he has cleaned up his wrestling a lot which I am quite pleased about. Hopefully he can get bronze. Afshar 86: Didn't watch his matches but had a feeling Yagan was going to cause him problems. Yagan had a close match with Kadiev the senior worlds last year. I have a feeling he might beat Balaian in the final. Rahmani 92: Can't complain he beat Kurashvili who he should've already beaten at U20 worlds and now faces Bagaev who is really tough. This is going to be very scrappy imo but if Rahmani wants to make up for his U20s loss it has to be here. Mohammadnejad 125: Did what he needed to do very happy. I can see him becoming a problem for Zare in 2-3 years time.
Lucho Posted October 17 Posted October 17 My predictions for the next 5 weights are as follows Yahyaipour 57: He faces either Baghirov or Ozdamirov in the quarters provided he beats Harutyunyan. I don't think he beats Ozdamirov so he will probably fight for bronze here. Khateri 65: If he develops a gas tank at 65 I can see him getting to the final. I'm just glad we aren't seeing Tat inevitably lose to another Russian 65 for the second tournament in a row. Elahi 70: Elahi draws Toprak who is going to be very tough. If he beats him I feel like he gets to the final against Eltemirov. Yousefi 79: Yaprak is again pretty solid. I remember seeing him get decent results in a major tournament recently. But Yousefi probably runs through this bracket imo. Azimi 97: provided Poyonov doesn't lose his first match Azimi vs Khaniev will happen at the semis. I feel like Azimi will wrestle for bronze here. Khaniev is top 3 in Russia at 97 now behind Kurbanov and Sadulaev. Azimi is has stagnated a lot and moving up a weight will be tough to wrestle the way he normally does.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 18 Posted October 18 Khari, Karampour and Afshar win bronze I like Afshar a lot
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 18 Posted October 18 Khateri Elahi Yousefi reach the finals Azimi in the bronze medal match our FS team is having a great tournament in the U.S.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 18 Posted October 18 Rahmani beats Bagaev and wins gold at 92. A great comeback tournament from him after his U20 disappointment. His first world title. Mohammad Nezhad easily won gold at 125 as expected. He is now 2x U23 champ and 1x U20 champ at 19 years old. Very impressive. Has much more honour and patriotism than Masoumi as well. All of our day 1 freestyle wrestlers medalled and we have 4/5 in medal matches (3 in final) tomorrow as well. Incredible performance by Iran’s freestyle team in the USA. We lead Russia in the team title by 11 points Dabir and Pejman deserve a lot of credit 1
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 18 Posted October 18 5 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: Khateri Elahi Yousefi reach the finals Azimi in the bronze medal match our FS team is having a great tournament in the U.S. Khateri was down 8-1 and came back to beat the Russian 9-8 in the semi final at 65kg Khateri is always in crazy matches, but he has great spirit and conditioning and his frame is huge for the weight His transition from 45kg at U17 level to 61/65kg at U20/U23 level has been hard but he is starting to show his quality again. He’s only 19 years old.
Lucho Posted October 18 Posted October 18 6 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: Khari, Karampour and Afshar win bronze I like Afshar a lot I think these three have shown quite a lot of promise. Khari beat Japan who was last years' bronze medalist. Karampour has also improved a lot as well. I like Afshar and I think he can develop nicely into the weight. Mihaelcan is a really tough match up.
Lucho Posted October 18 Posted October 18 5 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: Rahmani beats Bagaev and wins gold at 92. A great comeback tournament from him after his U20 disappointment. His first world title. Mohammad Nezhad easily won gold at 125 as expected. He is now 2x U23 champ and 1x U20 champ at 19 years old. Very impressive. Has much more honour and patriotism than Masoumi as well. All of our day 1 freestyle wrestlers medalled and we have 4/5 in medal matches (3 in final) tomorrow as well. Incredible performance by Iran’s freestyle team in the USA. We lead Russia in the team title by 11 points Dabir and Pejman deserve a lot of credit Huge win for us with Rahmani beating Bagaev. I think with us sending three more guys to the finals and 2 of them being match ups with Russia we are in a pretty good spot atm. Would be insane if we win this tournament. The US had major upsets with Basset and Sinclair not placing. Also Russia with Ozdamirov not placing too. Everyone thought we would be competing for third but looks like we are competing for the title.
Lucho Posted October 18 Posted October 18 1 hour ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: Khateri was down 8-1 and came back to beat the Russian 9-8 in the semi final at 65kg Khateri is always in crazy matches, but he has great spirit and conditioning and his frame is huge for the weight His transition from 45kg at U17 level to 61/65kg at U20/U23 level has been hard but he is starting to show his quality again. He’s only 19 years old. Khateri still needs to fill out at 65 but he is one of those guys who just doesn't give up. He will need it against Japan he looks very good.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 19 Posted October 19 incredible, Khateri and Yousefi win gold and Iran wins the freestyle team title, with Russia second and USA a distant third great performance from our U23 teams. credit to Dabir and the coaches 1
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 19 Posted October 19 Rahmani dedicates his gold medal to the 168 Iranian schoolchildren slaughtered by the USA in Minab 1
Lucho Posted October 25 Posted October 25 Incredible start for Irans greco team. 3 finalists and one bronze medal contender. Here are my thoughts for the first 4 weights. 55 (Payam Ahmadi): As expected gets to the final. His bracket was much easier as he didn't face Sefershaev, Lolua or Azizli at all on the way to the final. Still he dominated his way through. He will have a very tough final match against Azizli. 60 (Ali Ahmadi Vafa): This has to be one of the surprises of the tournament. Beating Ganiev in the semis was not on my cards at all. He faces Gomi who I think was the favourite to win the tournament alongside Ganiev so again a very tough final. 77 (Ali Oskou): Incredible run until the semis where against Suleymanov he couldn't really generate much at all. He should have been given the second passivity point imo however Suleymanov is a very very good wrestler so it might not have made much of a difference. He will most likely win bronze though. 82 (Gholamreza Farokhi): Not as dominant as I would've though tbh. He pinned Levai and teched Bradu but had a very close match against Russia. Turkey who got to the final is pretty tough he beat Makhmudov so again not an easy one to predict either. But I think Farokhi can be considered the favourite here. Day 2 we have Hedayati, Saravi and Sohrabi who are arguably the better group of wrestlers than the Day 1 team. In terms of the team race I don't think any other country can compete in all honesty. Potentially Azerbaijan since they have two finalists Day 1. I don't think Russia will come close as they have only one bronze medal contender.
Sulyvahn Posted October 25 Posted October 25 1 hour ago, Lucho said: Day 2 we have Hedayati, Saravi and Sohrabi who are arguably the better group of wrestlers than the Day 1 team. In terms of the team race I don't think any other country can compete in all honesty. Potentially Azerbaijan since they have two finalists Day 1. I don't think Russia will come close as they have only one bronze medal contender. It's really tough right now because Iran has both weights wide quality and depth at least on par with Azerbajan and Russia (if not better), AND they also have the most strong favorites (Hedayati, Saravi, Esmaeli). Russia doesn't have an Evloev or Vlasov in their current team, let a lone more than one. It's plausible that they walk away with no golds again.
Lucho Posted October 25 Posted October 25 29 minutes ago, Sulyvahn said: It's really tough right now because Iran has both weights wide quality and depth at least on par with Azerbajan and Russia (if not better), AND they also have the most strong favorites (Hedayati, Saravi, Esmaeli). Russia doesn't have an Evloev or Vlasov in their current team, let a lone more than one. It's plausible that they walk away with no golds again. Their best chances of winning medals Day 1 was with Sefershaev and Kutuzov. They both got screwed over by the bracket. If Sefershaev was on the otherside he would at least be wrestling for bronze. Kutuzov the same too. I think they might win 87 tbh. 87 is very competitive in Russia and Alirzaev is very good. But aside from that I don't see them winning gold anywhere else.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 25 Posted October 25 (edited) This is likely Iran’s best ever Greco Roman team and one of the best GR teams from any country in recent decades. Gold medal threats at every single weight class. Medals in 10/10 weights is still possible. The team is insanely young as well: Ahmadi 20, Ahmadi Vafa 21, Keshtkar 25, Esmaeili 23, Sohrabi 23, Oskou 24 / Abdevali 21, Farokhi 24, Mohmadi 24, Saravi 28, and Hedayati 22. Most of them won’t even be in their prime yet. The finals didn’t go as planned. But Ahmadi just turned 20 and lost to a 5x champ veteran after dominating everyone else. Azizli is retiring and Ahmadi has 10+ years to compete at 55kg. Ahmadi Vafa’s rate of improvement has been incredible (from 17th in 2025 to 2nd in 2026). I didn’t think he would beat Ganiev - what a great win. He got caught by Gomi, no shame in that. He looks good for 2028 and we can no longer say 60kg is our weakest weight class. Oskou is incredible in parterre but weak at generating offence on the feet or controlling centre - which creates a risk that he loses both passivity points (as he did against Suleymanov). Oskou did well, medalled in a weight we didn’t medal in last year. But I think Abdevali will be our rep from next year (his rate of growth has also been impressive). Only Saravi’s loss upset me but his run can’t last forever. Sargsian looked a lot stronger and prepared for Saravi this year. Wrestling is unpredictable, the timekeepers messed up and the last point in the first period didn’t count as a result. 97kg is a minefield even without Rosillo, Aleskanyan and Evloev. Maskevich, Milov, Sarsgian are all in great form. Saravi will be back. Edited October 25 by Bulldozer Without Brakes
Lucho Posted October 25 Posted October 25 10 minutes ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: This is likely Iran’s best ever Greco Roman team and one of the best GR teams from any country in recent decades. Gold medal threats at every single weight class. Medals in 10/10 weights is still possible. The team is insanely young as well: Ahmadi 20, Ahmadi Vafa 21, Keshtkar 25, Esmaeili 23, Sohrabi 23, Oskou 24 / Abdevali 21, Farokhi 24, Mohmadi 24, Saravi 28, and Hedayati 22. Most of them won’t even be in their prime yet. The finals didn’t go as planned. But Ahmadi just turned 20 and lost to a 5x champ veteran after dominating everyone else. Azizli is retiring and Ahmadi has 10+ years to compete at 55kg. Ahmadi Vafa’s rate of improvement has been incredible (from 17th in 2025 to 2nd in 2026). I didn’t think he would beat Ganiev - what a great win. He got caught by Gomi, no shame in that. He looks good for 2028 and we can no longer say 60kg is our weakest weight class. Oskou is incredible in parterre but weak at generating offence on the feet or controlling centre - which creates a risk that he loses both passivity points (as he did against Suleymanov). Oskou did well, medalled in a weight we didn’t medal in last year. But I think Abdevali will be our rep from next year (his rate of growth has also been impressive). Only Saravi’s loss upset me but his run can’t last forever. Sargsian looked a lot stronger and prepared for Saravi this year. Wrestling is unpredictable, the timekeepers messed up and the last point in the first period didn’t count as a result. 97kg is a minefield even without Rosillo, Aleskanyan and Evloev. Maskevich, Milov, Sarsgian are all in great form. Saravi will be back. In all honesty in the Oskou and Saravi matches there were some interesting refereeing decisions. How Suleymanov didn't get a passivity point in the second period is beyond me. I'm not saying Oskou should've won the match but to not put Suleymanov in par terre is an interesting decision to say the least. Saravi's match had more stoppages than wrestling. I don't know why they didn't give him the push out. He had the 2 on 1 and Sargsian was fleeing. Anyways neither of them honestly deserved to win their matches but it also didn't help when there were some bizarre decisions being made by the refs. I'm hoping this doesn't happen to Keshtkar, Mohmedi and Esmaeili. Especially Esmaeili's potential match against Jafarov. We are the most dominant greco country since the Soviet Union and that is something many countries (Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey) don't like. Regardless we exceeded my expectations from this group of guys. Ahmadi and Ahmadi Vafa will definitely be world champions in the future so I'm not too upset. The Saravi loss is just frustrating to watch. It's the reason why I think greco doesn't have much popularity or allure as freestyle. The referee's have so much control over the outcome of the match especially in situations where the 2 guys are very even in skill.
Lucho Posted October 25 Posted October 25 In terms of most improved wrestlers I think Ahmadi Vafa and Sohrabi have really impressed me. But one thing our guys need to do in the future is have better seeding prior to these tournaments. If you come in unseeded there is a likelihood of having brutal brackets that could derail your tournament completely. Had someone like Oskou had a higher seed he may have made the final instead of losing to Suleymanov in the semis. For some guys (eg Farokhi) I guess it doesn't matter too much but in general for olympic weights we need strong seeding to maximise our chances of medalling.
Sulyvahn Posted October 26 Posted October 26 Saravi's loss doesn't surprise me. I did not think he was going to sweep this cycle. That's so hard to do. I wasn't necessarily expecting Sargsyan to be the culprit . I like Sargsyan, he's passionate and you can tell this means the world to him. Sargsyan has an exciting style and isn't big for the weight class. I think Sargsyan has a better chance against Kyril than Milov. Milov himself has been deeply intertwined with politics, that I wont get into. Hedayati - most dominant run since Karelin's 1998 world championship? He still has the final to go. I don't mean to be critical, but can the world not find someone better than Darius Vitek? Vitek is going to get killed starched tommorow. I wonder what's going through Riza's head. The loss wasn't the worst. A throw. Riza got tired later. I think he could get that match back from Matti in the future. But the only reason Riza is back is to win an olympic gold medal and it looks like he can't beat Heyadati. Riza's endurance is horrible, I think Riza would get teched. No one has a bigger ego than Riza and it's part of his success. Still Riza has to be looking at Matti losing, who he had a tough battle with, as a dreadful state of affairs. Riza already took an L from a younger Heyadati. It was also surreal to here the english commentator call Riza the "giant turk" while Matti is a head taller and looks at least as heavy. Riza is 5 ft 10 and when he slims down post retirement he'll probably weigh under 200 lbs. He's not a naturally big man.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted October 26 Posted October 26 7 hours ago, Lucho said: In all honesty in the Oskou and Saravi matches there were some interesting refereeing decisions. How Suleymanov didn't get a passivity point in the second period is beyond me. I'm not saying Oskou should've won the match but to not put Suleymanov in par terre is an interesting decision to say the least. Saravi's match had more stoppages than wrestling. I don't know why they didn't give him the push out. He had the 2 on 1 and Sargsian was fleeing. Anyways neither of them honestly deserved to win their matches but it also didn't help when there were some bizarre decisions being made by the refs. I'm hoping this doesn't happen to Keshtkar, Mohmedi and Esmaeili. Especially Esmaeili's potential match against Jafarov. We are the most dominant greco country since the Soviet Union and that is something many countries (Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey) don't like. Regardless we exceeded my expectations from this group of guys. Ahmadi and Ahmadi Vafa will definitely be world champions in the future so I'm not too upset. The Saravi loss is just frustrating to watch. It's the reason why I think greco doesn't have much popularity or allure as freestyle. The referee's have so much control over the outcome of the match especially in situations where the 2 guys are very even in skill. Watch the second period again, Oskou was being pushed back and couldn’t control centre, unfortunately. and Saravi didn’t get the points because there was a timekeeping error so the first period has finished before that move, not because it wasn’t a scoring move. Several timekeeping errors yesterday, annoying. Our seeds and draws were largely very good. Oskou was on the opposite side to Amoyan and Kutuzov and Gutu. Ahmadi and Ahmadi Vafa also had very good draws.
LJB Posted October 26 Posted October 26 i keep seeing this vid on the socials... https://www.instagram.com/p/De6wJO6I4qo/?hl=en you guys have any context of what was going on?
Aidan Gore Garner, North Carolina Class of 2027 Committed to North Carolina State Projected Weight: 157, 165
Will Clanton New York Military Academy, New York Class of 2027 Committed to Mercyhurst Projected Weight: 125
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