U20 worlds predictions

[Truzzcat]

57kg: I do not really know what to make of Anthony Knox. He dominated the open against a field that was not super proven and then dropped a match to Ignacio Villasenor who just Dnp'd at fargo and got 4th at cadet trials. Knox showed really good counter wrestling a lot of chest wraps and he has always been great on top. I worry that if he allows guys in on his legs like he did Ignacio he may not be able to convert points like he did at trials. The biggest threats are going to be Bagirhov of Azerbijan he won the u20 European championships and took second to pavlov at u23's (pavlov is who Luke beat in the finals last year). Zangaladze from georgia took silver at Euros and beat a guy who I was very high on Ozdamirov who went on to get Bronze. Caio Aaron won pan ams over Antonio mills and he will be a tough out he is a USA guy representing Brazil and another guy wrestling in the united states that will be competing is Rin Sakamoto who took 5th at senior Asians and I think will present Knox with some serious issues.

Prediction for Knox: DNP (I think he has the upside to win the entire thing I just was not thrilled with his last performance)

61kg: I fully expect Blaze to win this weight and dominate. His biggest test will likely come from Toktamotov from Kyrgestan who won the asian championships or Japans rep who did not compete there. However the guy from japan that did compete took second and I assume this guy beat him out for the spot. Jax beat the Japanese rep at cadets back in 2022. Adlan satiev (adam satievs son) is also in the field but I do not think he has much for Blaze but he is very fun to watch.

Prediction for Blaze: Gold

65kg: This weight is very tough and we only have domestic data points for Blaze. Toprak and Dhzandubaev are going to be the main tests for Stanich. Toprak has been competing at juniors since he was cadet eligible and has always been in bronze medal matches, I think he is a legit top 20ish in the world senior level guy. Dhzandubaev owns two wins over him this year one by tech at u20's and one 6-4 at u23's both tournaments he won gold. I think given those results Dhzandubaev is the guy to beat but I think Stanich can certainly do so. I worry a bit that international refs may be quicker to hit stanich with passivity and for that I think I am giving Dhzandubaev the edge but again I think he can win the entire thing

Prediction for Stanich: Silver

70kg: I mean I do not think there is a ton to go into here PJ should demolish this field. I think the second and third best u20 guys in the world could very well be Melvin Miller and Landon Robideau. Baitukaev has aged out but even if he was in this field I would still confidently pick PJ.

Prediction for PJ: Gold

74kg: This weight is good. Khaniev took 5th at u23's last year as a 17 year old and won u23 euros this year. He did however lose to Manuel wagin at u20 euros who is also in this field and beat Melvin miller 7-0 last year at cadets. After saying all that I am still picking Ladarion but he will definitely be tested.

Prediction for Lockett: Gold

79kg: For my money this is the deepest weight at worlds. Fortunately Shamispour is not competing for Iran he is a monster won cadets last year beating Wagin and was firmly in the running to potentially make Irans senior team. Begenjov from Turkmenistan is the returning champ and is an absolute monster he beat Ryder soundly in the finals. However he did lose in the asian semis to Amit from india who went on to beat shamispour in the finals. He was leading 6-1 at the time of getting pinned though so he is still my pick. Saidulov the russian rep is also good he took 5th last year but he lost to LJ Araujo who Henckel just handled so I dont see him as being a huge threat.

Prediction for henckel: Bronze

86kg: This weight is kind of a 2 horse race for me. Papinashvilli from Georgia is very good he beat the returning bronze medalist from Turkey in the Euro finals and I think he is really the only guy that can go with Max. That being said I really like Max's pace and offense against the European guys.

prediction for Mcenelly: Gold

92kg:  Poyonov is a legit probably top 10 guy senior level at this weight. He took silver at senior asians last year and fifth this year only losing to firouzpour 5-0 who is probably the favorite to win worlds and dauletbekov 2-1 who is a former world medalist. Togoev I do not know anything about he is 18 and won Euros but his age makes me optimistic Connor will have a physicality advantage.

Prediction for Connor: Silver

97kg: Erfan the Iranian is a monster he won bronze at cadets in 2022 but dominated his way through u20 asians and lost 3-2 to Yoshida in the finals of the ranking series (Yoshida beat Snyder this year). He will be a decided favorite over Radamacher but I expect Radamacher to able to medal against this field like he did last year. Genos brother? Konstanine Petriashvilli is also in this field and he won Euros. I think he has improved a lot but he had a very close match with Elijah Diakomihlais last year who got the spot because Dreshaun was hurt and Dreshaun teched him to make the team so I like Radamacher in that one.

Prediction for Radamacher: silver

125kg: I truthfully do not know much outside of Gogolaev obliterated the field at euros and the Russian people seem to think he is going to fix their heavyweight issues. Cole is going to be able to wrestle with everyone there I do worry about his size a bit and giving up ground. I would have loved to see him hit Merill at some point to see how he handles that.

Prediction for Cole: Silver

 

 

 

[MPhillips]

Thanks Truzz. Well done...

[Ragu]

This team is tough as nails, as per usual. I think we medal every weight

[shiraz321]

Some of the wrestlers they have listed for Iran are inaccurate. The lineup should be revealed soon. I have never heard of a wrestler by that name for the guy they have listed as the representative for Iran at 79, so I assume it must be a mistake. They also made some changes after Asian juniors.  

[Truzzcat]

8 hours ago, shiraz321 said:

Some of the wrestlers they have listed for Iran are inaccurate. The lineup should be revealed soon. I have never heard of a wrestler by that name for the guy they have listed as the representative for Iran at 79, so I assume it must be a mistake. They also made some changes after Asian juniors.  

I am hoping its Shamispour at 79 as a wrestling fan. As someone who wants america to do really well I hope he is not there though.

[Truzzcat]

8 hours ago, shiraz321 said:

Some of the wrestlers they have listed for Iran are inaccurate. The lineup should be revealed soon. I have never heard of a wrestler by that name for the guy they have listed as the representative for Iran at 79, so I assume it must be a mistake. They also made some changes after Asian juniors.  

do you think Erfan can challenge Azarpira soon?

 

[shiraz321]

28 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

do you think Erfan can challenge Azarpira soon?

 

I don't know much about him. He won Asian juniors, but we have a long, long list of wrestlers who won junior worlds, let alone junior Asians, around that weight class and went nowhere at the senior level. Many of them even won it dominantly.  Azarpira is probably lucky he avoided the curse by never winning junior worlds. 

 

32 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

I am hoping its Shamispour at 79 as a wrestling fan. As someone who wants america to do really well I hope he is not there though.

It will either be him or Yousefi, I think. Or maybe Hosseini who came second at 71kg at 2023 cadet worlds. He came second to Shamsipour at the junior trials. That is the only somewhat similar name to what is listed that would make sense, but is still a different name. 

[Truzzcat]

7 minutes ago, shiraz321 said:

I don't know much about him. He won Asian juniors, but we have a long, long list of wrestlers who won junior worlds, let alone junior Asians, around that weight class and went nowhere at the senior level. Many of them even won it dominantly.  Azarpira is probably lucky he avoided the curse by never winning junior worlds. 

 

It will either be him or Yousefi, I think. Or maybe Hosseini who came second at 71kg at 2023 cadet worlds. He came second to Shamsipour at the junior trials. That is the only somewhat similar name to what is listed that would make sense, but is still a different name. 

I was impressed that Erfan was competitive with Yoshida because I think yoshida is the 4th best guy in the world right now.