Lucho

Semenov got teched by Yousefi. Iran well and truly has the best heavyweights on the planet. What a contest it will be deciding who goes to worlds. Mirzazadeh, Hedayati, Yousefi and Fatihtazangi are all monsters.

I'm all for growing the sport because that means potential for more weights at the olympics and greater product but having countries essentially buy talent is stupid. Why does Azerbaijan who has a strong wrestling program need to bring in Dagestani's? It's just bizarre that this has been allowed for so long and I'm glad they are changing it. You can't take an international tournament seriously when it looks like the re-run of the russian nationals. Unless these guys actually have roots to the countries they are transferring to (i.e, familial lineage) these transfers shouldn't be allowed period. It also undermines local talent development which is much more important for growing a sport from the ground up.

I think domestically public perception is split between Zare and Masoumi for the spot tbh. Kind of like Yazdani and Ghasempour. Personally I think the top 3 heavyweights are Zare, Geno and Masoumi in that order but I can see arguments for Geno over Zare. There is no argument for Masoumi over Zare as Zare has beat him every time when they have wrestled. I think its mainly Mazandarani's rooting for Zare and Gilani's for Masoumi with everyone else like me just wanting to see the best for our guys regardless of who competes. In saying that though 2028 the 125kg olympic qualifiers for Iran might as well be the olympic final...

This ranking series was quite interesting imo with regards to where these guys sit in comparison to the other senior team members. Khalili and Khateri still need more time to grow physically before competing at senior level and the Rezaei brothers need way more time training before they can be counted on for world/olympic level aspirations. At least Yasin tries to do something Ali is a lost cause at 74kg. Unfortunately Azimi still has a long way to go if he wants to be a contender (looks like my hype for him was misguided unfortunately). To my surprise the 61 boys did well though hopefully one of them becomes a medal contender in this weight class. What's quite concerning to me is the crazy number of Russian transfers for other countries it looks like Slovakia and France have imported Ossetia and Chechnya respectively. This isn't good optics for growing the sport unfortunately.

I read somewhere that he is 24 but I think it makes more sense he is 22 I stand corrected. Still I have soft spot for Azimi compared to the other wrestlers in his age range and I think he can do well if given a chance. I guess we will see who is better in Zagreb anyways. I personally rank Azarpira first, Firouzpour second, Azimi third then Hajilouian based on wins and accolades. Babaloo would have been in the conversation if he didn't fall off a cliff in the last 18 months or so but he did end up second in nationals this year so maybe a come back for him? Overall our depth is getting a lot better nowadays so it's actually a good thing a guy like Azimi will be struggling to make the team.

I still think he can be a solid rep for us especially since we don't really have any solid 86kg or 92kg prospects off the top of my head apart from Ghasempour (28) and Firouzpour (24) respectively. A lot of people said the same about Azarpira after losing to Valencia and now he is 2-0 against Snyder and an Olympic bronze medallist. I'm not sold on him tbh he seems too one-dimensional relying too much on the underhook and doesn't shoot for the legs as much. I think his brother Yasin is a much better wrestler and I would like to see either him or Amouzad move up to 74kg for 2028. Regardless though 74kg is a Russian weight class for now. The depth they have at that weight is ridiculous and we don't have anyone super impressive at that weight unfortunately.

I really like Azimi but I don't think he is better than Firouzpour at the moment. Although he is only 21 and has had very solid results though. He is u20 WC beating Aitmukhan and getting silver at the Yarygin so he has a lot of potential. I'm interested to see what weight class he goes to because I can see him maybe dropping down to 86kg because of the competition in 92 and 97kg. Really exciting times for Iranian wrestling especially for the other provinces like Kurdistan who didn't historically have as good wrestlers coming through. We just now need Kermanshah and Lorestan to up their game.

I find it interesting that the US has only just started doing this because Iran and Russia have their own league which invites top greco and freestyle wrestlers. Recently there was a Iran-Russia wrestle off in freestyle and greco in Moscow and there will be another one in a couple months with Snyder. Imo there is a lot of potential draw in having these tournaments based in the US though.

I would imagine Yazdani going to 92kg for 2025/2026 and then move up to 97kg for 2027 and 2028. In saying that though I think Azarpira at 97kg and Firouzpour at 92kg could cause him some problems especially since both of those guys are in great form. Firouzpour beat Kurbanov (world silver) and pinned Naifonov (olympic bronze) in the last couple of months.

So far Iran's Greco national champions have been decided albeit world (senior, u23 and u20) and olympic medalists did not compete in this tournament as they had exemptions. 55kg: Mehdi Ahadi Zanab (Gilan province), 60kg: Pouya Naserpour (Khuzestan province), 63kg: Mohammadmehdi Keshtkar (Fars province), 67kg: Mohammadreza Gholami (Fars province), 72kg: Iman Mohammadi (Khuzestan province), 77kg: Amin Kaviyaninejad (Khuzestan province), 82kg: Gholamreza Farrokhi (Fars province), 87kg: Naser Alizadeh (Mazandaran province), 97kg: Hamidreza Badkan (Tehran province) and 130kg: Aliakbar Yousefi (Mazandaran province). According to the Iran wrestling federation, the winners of the national tournament who are 23 years and younger will wrestle against the corresponding u23 world member at that weight class for the upcoming Asian championships, if no u23 national champion at that weight class, then the u23 world team member will compete. This applies to both freestyle and greco. For Zagreb open, the current provisional list for the greco team has been announced. 55kg: Armin Shamsipour and Mehdi Ahadi Zanab, 60kg: Pouya Naserpour, 63kg: Erfan Jarkani, Mohammadmehdi Keshtkar, 67kg: Ahmadreza Mohsennejad and Mohammadreza Gholami, 72kg: Mohammadreza Geraei, Danial Sohrabi and Iman Mohammadi, 77kg: Ali Oskou, Alireza Abdevali, Amin Kaviyaninejad and Amir Abdi, 82kg: Gholamreza Farrokhi, 87kg: Naser Alizadeh, 97kg: Shayan Habibzare and Hamidreza Badkan and 130kg: Aliakbar Yousefi. Wrestlers in my opinion to keep an eye on incluude Armin Shamsipour, Ahmadreza Mohsennejad, Mohamdreza Gholami, Alireza Abdevali and Gholamreza Farrokhi. Most of these guys are age-level world champions and/or had a great performance at the Iran national championships.