Lucho

I'm pretty sure it is the same Aoyagi he just moved up a weight class to 74kg. The interesting part is that arguably the best Japanese 74 (Narikuni) is wrestling greco instead of freestyle. If Narikuni focussed on freestyle instead of greco guys like Takatani and Takahashi wouldn't even have the medals they have today. Their depth in some of these weight classes is wild.

Yeah Elahi sort of fell off but now he is doing well which is great to see. In saying that I think he gave PJ Duke his closest match at U20 worlds though, Duke won on criteria 2-2. He lost a close match to Rassadin as well it was 7-5 and Rassadin is pretty tough. I'm wondering why Khorramdel doesn't come down to 65kg anymore he would be a much better wrestler there imo unless the weight cut is too much for him now. He only moved up to 70kg last year because Iran's actual rep at 70kg was injured (I forgot his name).

Yeah I saw it was quite impressive to be honest. I think he lost to Rassadin not Sheriev in the finals I think Sheriev went up to 74kg. If he keeps this up it will be interesting to see who ends up our 70kg rep between him and Khalili. I'm a bit disappointed in Khorramdel he should be doing better considering his junior level results.

I don't think they've wrestled but I could be wrong. I imagine if they did it wouldn't have been to competitive anyways considering how good Masoumi is. The harsh reality is even if Mohammadnezhad is a top prospect unless he can beat Zare he isn't making the team. To even get to that point he has to beat Masoumi to make it to wrestle off's. What makes it ridiculous is that Zare is only 24 so it's not like these guys can just wait for him to retire he still has another 10 years in him.

Would have been nice to see a McEnelly vs Rahmani rematch at u23s but I'll be looking forward to seeing a potential Welsh vs Rahmani matchup. No Masoumi at 125 makes the field very open tbh I feel like anyone can win it as Yedige Kassimbek isn't also competing. Even if you guys were sending the other 2 instead at 97 and 125 I feel like the team title is wrapped up for you guys barring a severe underperformance. Marcus Blaze, Luke Lilledahl, Jax Forrest, PJ Duke, Mitch Messenbrink and Levi Haines are all top tier prospects can develop into world/olympic champions. In saying that I reckon our boys will give the US guys a hard time and might be able to beat a couple of them.

The US team is really really strong this year. It seems like from 57-92kg they have gold medal contenders and have medal contenders at 97 and 125kg. Your guys' talent development in recent years is scary. It's going to be an interesting tournament seeing how our guys match up with yours.

The moment Khabib called Azarpira the Iranian is the moment I call 0 chance on him competing. If you are running a wrestling tournament you need to know the names of the guys you are inviting. Especially since that "Iranian guy" is an olympic bronze and world silver medallist. That sort of attitude is why wrestling hasn't grown internationally as it should have. It's a shame because Khabib could be really key to growing the sport but I don't think the Iranian federation will allow it anyways since Azarpira is competing at the Islamic Solidarity Games.

If grass roots wrestling can be developed in those countries instead of relying on foreign imports there will be more eyes on the sport of wrestling. The Greek guy that just won at 79kg is going to bring far more eyes to the sport of wrestling in Greece than Kurugliev ever could. Part of international sport is having a connection to the athlete that is representing your country. If they don't speak the language or understand the culture how are you going to make people interested in the sport. Look at the Hungarian greco team support vs freestyle the Hungarians come in big numbers supporting their guys whilst they don't do that for Baitcaev and Kuramagomedov in freestyle. There is a reason for that. The more eyes on the sport the more money and excitement as a result.

Thanks for that. It seems like UWW is stepping in the right direction with regards to these transfers. It would be much more worth it if these countries brought in coaches to train their own wrestlers as opposed to importing them and it would also make the competitions more exciting in the process.

Bulgaria is really the exception rather than the rule unfortunately. Azerbaijan, Serbia, Hungary, Bahrain and now Qatar are still options for foreign wrestlers. In some cases it makes sense for example the Amine brothers and Micic because they actually have ties to the countries they represent. However, for the vast majority of the cases it is an actual joke. The only solution is for UWW to allow multiple wrestlers from each country compete. This way it would not only improve the quality of wrestling in tournaments but also stop this circus show from continuing.

We will see I think there will be a couple surprises as usual with these sorts of things. But I more or less agree with what you have put if those are the guys competing. Probably have Azimi winning 92 over khaniev tbh.

According to an interview they just had he said he will be competing at u23 worlds for some reason. Not too sure why I would rather some other guy go and wrestle.

Who are the US and Russia sending. I feel like you are underestimating some of the guys. Azimi is a U20 world champ at this weight class and Yousefi is the reigning u23 and u20 champ.

Not a bad list tbh I could see maybe 3-4 golds and 7 medals total from this team. Sina Khalili, Mehdi Yousefi, Abolfazal Rahmani and Mobin Azimi are very good wrestlers. I wonder what our Greco team is going to look like. I think Farokhi will be our 82kg rep apparently.

I think Mamedov stays in Russia tbh. They don't really have anyone else at 65 that can compete internationally. It seems overall Russia's new generation is much weaker than their previous which doesn't seem that surprising given who headlined that era (Sadulaev, Sidakov, Gatsalov etc). Even their transfers are around the same age as their main team guys. I wonder if the MMA hype has shifted their best grappling talent over there and the rest of the guys competing are their next best alternatives. Apart from Tazhudinov, Kadiev and Ozdamirov they don't have anyone that is super super impressive coming through.