Shibboleth

Hi, so Abdullah Kurbanov (Russian wrestler) was interviewed by an Iranian news agency (link below) where he claims that he relinquished his place for Abdulrashid Sadulaev for the non-olympic worlds in Tirana, Albania next month. I just want to ask some Parsi speakers if this what he actually said. Does he definitively claim that Sadulaev is wrestling in Tirana, or is it just his opinion?

https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/2024/09/21/3162315/کوربانوف-یزدانی-بهترین-کشتی-گیر-بود-کامران-تیلور-را-می-برد

Is Alirez out or in?

He was not in the pre-seeds list (I assumed he would be somewhere in top 4). But he's still listed as a participant in the USA Wrestling software thing. Anyone know if he's withdrew and why if so?

So there has been a growing chorus of rumors that UWW is planning a weight class revision in all its wrestling styles (freestyle, greco, women). FRL has talked about this in one of their podcasts and they said there is a proposal on UWW table that will be (may be?) ratified after October world champs (for the non olympic classes)? I've heard the same, that the current weight classes are to be used the last time this October.

Has anyone heard any details on the proposal? I've heard, from multiple sources that
 

• 57 is going to be scrapped and they will move to 60 or 59 as the smallest WC (in MFS)
• 70 will be an olympic category instead of 65
• 92 kg category will be scrapped altogether
• For women, the heaviest weight class will be moving up to 82 or similar, and 72 is also going to be an olympic class, as well as 59.
• 55 kg category for greco will be no more

Curious if you've heard anything. All of this is the word on the street, but we're kind of on the street here on this board right

4 hours ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Yes, good performance so far... except it appears as if we are going with a team of nine as Mirasola appears to be "out."

Mirasola is "out"? So, forfeit or what is happening. He hasnt posted anything of the sort

What is Ben Kueter's weight rn?

And Mason Parris', while we're at it? 

Also I saw Gable Steveson's weight listed at Bills roster as 280. If that is the case, he's bulked considerably. He was I think 255 at 2023 world team trials (last time he ever wrestled). Probably smaller in Tokyo (245? or so?) 280 pounds is over the freestyle limit.

Let me to the second half for you -- from below. It's a bit easier.

125 -- Masoumi techs his way through the tournament. Kueter has a great shot at a medal, but there are a number of wrestlers I think around his level. The Russian. Büyükçıngıl. Dursinov. Maybe that's about it

97 -- Aitmukhan for gold, Babaloo for silver (or bronze if on same side). Karsanov and Nukhaev other medals. Rademacher I think dnp

92 -- Malachdibirov vs Mirasola, I think Mirasola is favored for gold but it's like 55/45. There are no other legitimate contenders here I think.

86 -- Kadiev techs his way through the tournament.  Iranian, Barr, Bors, I guess other medals. 

79 -- Begenjow, Gogritchiani are good here. + Irani. I've no idea how good Saidulov is. But he's a russian. Ryder I dont have much hope in. dnp

44 minutes ago, maligned said:

A couple of matches at the Albanian senior event this past weekend that caught my eye:

#5 (at 57kg) Abakarov of Albania was up at 65kg and beat Okorokov, who will represent Australia at the Olympics, 3-2, in the final. Okorokov used to be a 57kg like Abakarov. I'm guessing Zain wouldn't have big problems with Okorokov, but he's a real opponent, unlike some qualifying out of the Africa/Oceania path.

New Albanian Olympian, Chermen Valiev, struggled a bit, 6-4, with the Moldovan, Diacon, who hasn't done much at the senior level. Valiev's results continue to be "enough," but not on a Sidakov or Dake level, I don't think.

Thanks, I just checked the results.

Abakarov is big, he used to wrestle 65 and 61 too at different tournaments. I think Spencer would have an issue with him had they fought at 65. But at 57, he has a shot.

As for Okorokov, he is legit, but Zain won't be facing him, because they are both unseeded and there are 8 seeds, and Okorokov isn't getting around any seeded wrestlers, like Tevanyan, Amouzad, Mamedov, Tomor-Ochir, Musukaev, Rivera, Dudaev, and whoever else is there I forgot.

Valiev also somehow regressed, he was giving pretty toough matchups to Sidakov, lost 3-2 and to Zhamalov he barely lost, he was a champion of Russia as well. He won't be seeded either and my guess is he'll fall in the 1st round if he faces Dake, Sidakov, Bayramov, Cabolov, Salkazanov, Takatani. Against others he has a shot. Also, Valiev is pretty small and the cut is no issue for him, as opposed to Dake, who is what, way over 80 kilos? Kougioumtsidis is big too, so is Kadimagomedov but he ain't seeded. Bekzod is huge too, if he's selected over Zhamalvo. The rest are relatively on weight. Sidakov is lean, Bayramov is pretty small. 

After watching the interview my opinion on Brooks is that he's a great wrestler, but he's a) not a very inteligent person and b) it sounds like he needs to wrestle someone multiple times to get a grip. But he'll probably wrestle Yazdani just one time (if that) given that he said he's moving to 92 for the 3 years to come (2025-27).  So, his chances vs Yazdani aren't as good as I thought. Particularly now that we know that Taylor isn't helping him out (shit, after listening to the interview Taylor might even support Yazdani vs Brooks lol).

Man, I hope someone supports Brooks for the bouts to come in Paris, whether it's Yazdani, Kurugliev, Naifonov or whoever. Mostly Yazdani though. 86 is pretty weak compared to 65, 74

LOL would be crazy, but in the extremely unlikely case that Brooks has botched the TUE thing and is not allowed, there's 99% chance David Taylor will be competing. 

And yea Hidlay did beat Kenchadze, but barely and Kentchadze is competing at 74 this weekend. 

19 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

I don't know the field at 65, but at 57 kg I feel that Spencer is a lock as long as he doesn't have Aman right off the scale. Even then, I'd give him a 90% chance to win the true bronze match.

 

I mean probably off the scale is worse for Aman than for Lee? Lee is a very small person.

5 hours ago, maligned said:

All of this matches what I put in the original post from just what I found from entry lists and UWW rankings--but where did you get the rest of the 57kg info that has rankings beyond the Top 20 that determined the Cameroonian as the 4-seed and Spencer as 6th in line?

Now Turkey added Karavus instead of Atli and the he'll be the 2 seed. I got the info from UWW, which sometimes shows the full rankings. Also, if you want you can just add up the rankings this is off of - the 2023 world champs, the continental championships of 2024 and the Zagreb Ranking series. Also, for African wrestlers you have to add African Games. You can use the system - https://cdn.revolutionise.com.au/cups/wai/files/hhezgc8rlkkke8hr.pdf

So the current 57 rankings are below. Only top 4 are seeded, the rest are alternate seeds as it were.

 

These are the seeds for each category. Chamizo is top seed per UWW decision - if he's not, then Salkazanov is 1, and Kaipanov is the new 4. Spencer Lee is 6th, so he may be the 4 seed or higher if those above him are replaced.

For Greco, see below:

 

For some reason, Sancho is in the entry list, however he is bound to be replaced and Amaev will be the new 4 seed as others move up.

On 3/22/2024 at 7:25 PM, CA_Wrestler said:

Yep, it'll be interesting at the Olympics.  That's practically the same elbow injury that Susaki had in 2018 after she won the Senior Worlds and had to withdraw from the Emperor's Cup that December.  She then tried to come back too early the following May too early and lost in a playoff match to Yuki Irie for the World Team spot.

What is situation with Fujinami, is she going to be healthy for Paris? I mean I heard that she was planning to go 57 at the olympics - is that a think or just a rumor? Probably the latter. Even though Susaki might win 53 in Paris too if they let her.

 

IOC has gender-balanced almost every sport. Wrestling is out of balance  (currently men are twice as many).  I think the writing is on the wall that it's either going to be 6 weights for women and 3 for each of Greco and Freestyle, or some other combination where men and women get the samen number of athletes in.

Also there is no way IOC is expanding the overall quota for wrestling at the Olympics. Wrestling is not popular. Also there's corruption scandals and overall governance is lackluster. See Chamizo incident, the Russian stuff, Countries hosting and not allowing other countries in (Albania not allowing Iran, Azerbaijan not allowing Armenia). Currently there are 288 wrestlers total competing. IOC is probably looking at cutting this to 250 or less.

One option is adding GR for women and then having 3 weight classes per sport. (3 for FS, 3 WW, 3 GR, 3 GR-W). 

Or, with addition of Beach Wresting, GR is removed and it's 3 weights each like 3 FS, 3 WW, 3 Beach Wrestling Men, and women). Maybe FS/WW keep 16 wrestlers in each weight class and Beach wrestling gets 12, so it's about 250 total wrestlers.

Or - having 4 weight classes for FS, WW, BR-M and BR-W, but cutting quotas for each. 

This is the future, like it or not
 

What exactly was he talking about in his interview, saying that he was not sure he was going to wrestle in this tournament? Some adversity at home?
Sure as hell sounded like this was his last tournament.

Aliyev -Tumur Ochir, Aliev won 3-3 by on last second singlet grab caution

https://uww.org/brightcove_video/16275

There's likely others too