Lucho

Yeah 65 is an actual mess in terms of predicting who is going to win it every year. I think it also has do to with the fact that the vast majority of countries can field top level guys at that weight class. Compare that to 57 or 125 where the number of elite guys is far less purely due to genetics. It is very unlikely you will find an elite 125 from Japan or an elite 57 from Iran because of that. I also think there is a lot of parity because its pretty much impossible to prep for 8-10 high level guys for a worlds/olympics. Olympics last year had Muszukaev, Dudaev, Amouzad, Retherford, Kiyooka, Rivera, Aliyev, Ochir, Akmataliev and Tevanyan. More than half of the guys in the bracket were world/olympic medalists. That's just stupid depth. So a little under performance in one match can cost you a medal. I think this is where the Russian guys benefit the most because of how nuts their brackets are domestically they are used to it so they better navigate through. Whereas in Iran and US there isn't as much depth domestically so our guys aren't as used to these sort of brackets.

I'm a bit confused. Does this impact his olympic medal then? This is the first time I've heard a US wrestler get popped for PEDs which is kinda crazy to think about. He will be what 27/28 by LA so him being banned is going to have drastic impact on US chances at 86/97kg. I guess by then he will be a filled out 97 so he will have to beat Snyder for the spot I'm guessing unless the US produces anyone better than him in the next 3 years.

I think our greco team is also quite young too. Maybe Saravi and Mirzazadeh being the only guys not u23 eligible.

Is that for freestyle? Apart from Ghasempour, Emami and Amir Mohammad Yazdani think most of them are still eligible for u23 worlds. It's kinda crazy to think about. In saying that though Japan and US both have young teams so it's not that much different.

In more positive news, our greco guys looked better today. Payam Ahmadi and Seydi look pretty solid imo. It looks like it will be a close team race between us and Azerbaijan. I think they have sent 2 guys to the finals like us but they currently have 1 gold. I'm interested to see how our 87kg performs as he literally won u17s a couple weeks ago at 82kg. I hope it's not another Khalili and Rahmani situation where they grind him down by forcing him to compete.

As much as I would like to give our coaches the benefit of the doubt I agree. How come things like visa problems, injuries, etc never impact Russia, US etc but always us? You are the head coach of the national team you are responsible for making sure your guys are prepared and disciplined for worlds. It's literally your job to know when worlds is starting and organising all the logistics. We have no one to blame but ourselves when we lose and under perform. If Russia was included in the rankings we came fourth not even third which is awful. This defeatist mentality plagues us in all aspects of our society not just sport. If you have enough energy to complain and give excuses it means you haven't put enough work in.

I guess that is true. It's just a shame as there are so many phenomenal athletes that won't be able to showcase themselves if it gets removed from the olympics. I personally enjoy both styles equally but I think I'm in the minority here. If greco gets removed from the olympics, the sport will die. Apart from Iran, I dont think any other country will even bother sending proper teams to compete. It will just make freestyle much more competitive which isn't the worse either tbh. It's one of those things that sounds good on paper but is quite difficult to pull off in reality. It's only been kept somewhat alive possible because of the freak athletes who compete in it.

There is a very small chance he wins a senior level gold. I don't even think he will make the senior team any time soon. Light weight is where every country in the world has good wrestlers (aside from us). Even the "second tier" countries have guys as good (at worst) or better guys than us. Our light weight development needs to have an overhaul. Apart from Amouzad we haven't really developed any proper light weights in a while.

He looks malnourished at 61 the only way he moves up to 65 or higher is if they put him on an IV strip and force feed him. His match against Blaze showed that he needs to bulk up as he is going to get outmuscled otherwise. He is tall and lanky yes but I don't think that means he will necessarily move up. His body needs to adjust to 61 first.

Yeah Khateri is 18 but he looks very young compared to Blaze and the other 61kg guys. I'm not sure it's because of the lack of muscle but he definitely needs a good 2/3 years at this weight class before he becomes remotely competitive. Him, Yousefi and Rahmani are the only guys worth having an eye on for the future. The rest of them were here just to make numbers this year. Hopefully our greco guys don't embarrass us as well.

I wouldn't be opposed to that. I think the 2 bronzes is a bit weird tbh. Like I get why repechage exists but having 2 guys come third doesn't really make sense. Also 16 guys compete in each olympic weight class nowadays so how are we going to cut that further? 8 people??

I personally like greco more than freestyle in some aspects but I understand where the US view comes from. High level greco is boring because the margins between the top guys is tiny. The passivity calls imo have made it more watchable. But for guys who have grown up with freestyle and folk I understand why greco would be so foreign. If Beach wrestling gets added I'm not watching the Olympics. That's actually ridiculous.

Why should Greco be cut that's ridiculous. The shouldn't have cut the wrestling weight classes for any of the styles to begin with. If FILA wasn't a corrupt organisation with stupid rule sets we wouldn't be in this position to begin with. We need to preserve as many of the martial arts in the olympics as possible. They are some of the purest forms of sport and competition we have.

You guys are focussing on freestyle earlier which is helping you guys with junior level success. The razer sharp conditioning that you get from folk is showing. Completely deserved u17 and u20 title wins. It's just frustrating that our guys are performing so poorly.

I don't have a problem with the style it comes down to everything else. Compared to the American guys their conditioning is woeful and the wrestling IQ is virtually non-existant from half of these guys that competed. The only wrestler that has impressed me is Ahoura Khateri and even he purposely handicapped himself for no reason in his earlier matches. It feels like their is a big disconnect between what the coaches want from our guys and them actually performing it.

Our junior guys have been awful this year. I don't know what's going on but there is a huge coaching problem at all levels it seems. Dabir needs to be held accountable, especially if we perform poorly at senior worlds this year. Alizadeh lost to greece? Mamivand can't do a single leg? Its actually hilarious how bad our freestyle guys are. When you have Cox and Taylor coaching compared to our randoms this is what happens. If you want world champions you need to be coached by world champions not guys who can barely podium at Asians. Dabir now can't hide behind "team titles" he has completely lost all credibility in his coaching appointments. There are 50 uncles in the outskirts of Mazandaran who can coach these guys better.

Just had a look for Iran's u20 greco roster apparently Amirsam Mohammadi who just won u17 worlds is competing at 87kg as well. Very interesting and I think its ultimately the right move, he has a very bright future so competing against guys 2-3 years older than him would be a great litmus test to see where he sits against the rising class of senior level prospects. If (big if) he wins gold at u20s aged 17 I'm all in on the hype train. Also Russia's monster Erzu Zakriev has moved up from 63 to 67kg I highly recommend all of you to watch his performance last year and keep an eye out for this year. He will be Esmaeili's biggest challenge in LA I reckon. There's also a couple wrestlers of Iranian descent competing at u20 worlds, Danoush Jowkar (61kg FS), Keyvan Gharehdaghi (74kg FS) and Arvin Khosravy (82kg GR).

Yeah he had a crazy drop in performance last year. He lost to Kusaka in the Asians then Zhadrayev beats him in Paris. LA is his last chance for gold and I really hope he wins it if one of own guys doesn't do it. Still I think Paris was his best chance tbh, he will be what 29/30 next olympics and there will definitely be killers in that weight class who will be younger and entering their prime years. It would be upsetting but not surprising if Akzhol retires without an olympic gold in his resume. In my eyes he is still an all time great whether or not he wins olympic gold.

I'm surprised that you guys think Khateri is making the finals. If he makes 61kg finals I would be incredibly impressed. He has fallen off since his u17 world title imo. The rest of it I more or less agree with I think US takes the team title relatively easily.

For those that can't read farsi, Amirreza Masoumi signed a contract to wrestle in the Iranian wrestling league. I think Sina Khalili is also competing. I'm not really sure what the implications are of this but I think he still wants to leave its just that the federation isn't letting him.

Yeah I feel like heavy weight is such a big stylistic difference that he will probably struggle. In saying that he is an incredible wrestler with a fantastic coaching staff behind him, I reckon if he goes up he will still be a problem just the Iranian wrestling style might be a match up disadvantage.

I wonder if Tazhudinov's wrestling style will translate well at 125... He would probably be able to beat the average heavy relatively easily but I think the stylistic difference at heavy weight might cause him some problems against a Masoumi, Zare level wrestler. Those guys have been heavies all their lives whereas I think Tazhudinov grew into a 97kg. I think the amount of injuries he has already racked up might cause him problems as well. The heavies are stronger and more physical.

Also Akzhol Makhmudov is apparently not competing this year at worlds which is huge. I'm not sure if Kusaka is competing but this is a massive chance for Abdevali to win gold. Him and Sharshenbekov are two of my favourite non-Iranian greco guys so its a shame one of them isn't competing but interesting to see who Kyrgzstan send in his absence. They have been developing some killers at junior levels in recent years.

Yeah the Treaty of Turkmenchay was probably the most monumental moment in Persian history in terms of future ramifications. It strengthened Russia to become a superpower and led to our deteriorating political influence within the region. Wrestling wise we would be unstoppable but I guess that's not as important to be honest in this context.

Yeah I reckon Tazhudinov fills out to 125 by 2032 he is too big to not eventually go to heavy weight. So I think that's why Bahrain didn't go for him.