2001Hokie

I don't think he's as good, but he had an amazing strategy. Hold firm on defensive posture and hand-fighting. Wait for minor mistakes and take quick advantage. Realistically, the U23 Indian should've lost on criteria, but the frustration for a wrestler like Bo who is full speed ahead is tough to accept, which made him lose. We saw the frustration vs Amouzad yesterday. I personally think Bo learned and will win, and I'm a VT homer for sure!!!, but the strategy is very much out there. Either wait for Bo to make a mistake (or multiple) OR let him be overly aggressive, give him a leg and then pull him over the top if you have the strength like the Russian today.

Fully intentional and I hope we don't allow her to compete for any national team competitions. I'd rather a lesser wrestler vs one with no competitive honor.

I see the potential for the same match as the U23 matchup vs the Indian wrestler. Slow, defensive, and plodding. With his strength, can he frustrate Bo into mistakes and poor edge wrestling. We'll see. When going against a no-offense wrestler, I'll always lean towards the aggressor, but as we saw vs Amouzad, you just never know.

Hoping for good results! Good luck to all 3

totally missed him. Big changes at Pitt!

Didn't realize Evans went up to 174

Dang, two NQ got beaten there. Dylan Evans went 2-2 at NCAAs, and Tyler Chappell went 1-2.

I didn't see that Grejada lost in the round of 16. I'd seen his close r32 match. Guess he's not #1 now!

Don't tell 'her' that. She could be listening...

Again, the initial decision by Iran was to stay in Tuscon, AZ. They negotiated with FIFA a few weeks out from the WC to move their training and stays in Tijuana. This caused everything to change, and could have complicated their visas. As I said, late changes between countries with poor or unstable relationships can really muck up travel plans. That's not shocking, and the decision to switch locations was made by the Iranian team. They also were allowed to enter 2 days before for the last game. The other two games were held in LA...not exactly a heavy trek. As for support staff, that sucks but visas get denied. Considering the relationship between nations, having people denied visas that are somewhat integrated into the government will certainly raise flags. You seem to want this to be a left vs right political thing, but realistically it's not unusual given the circumstances. The actual unusual part is that the WC happened to be here, which allowed outlier situations to be amplified.

Let's not conflate the two situations. Iran was approved to stay in the US for training in Tuscon during the WC, with preparations for them nearly complete. All coach and player visas were approved. Iran decided at the last minute (relatively speaking) to adjust and stay in Tijuana. This meant the team had to go back and forth across borders. It was an odd situation in general. It's not unusual for teams to travel a day before a game and is well within FIFA rules. The post-match return is difficult for sure, but given the visas they received based on initially staying in Tuscon, the in/out travel isn't that unexpected. This is why late adjustments for large group travel is a nightmare, especially internationally. It's not always as simple as finding a new hotel. I once hosted a 3 company set of meetings in Beijing and we had to change hotels 15 foreigners to go to a different city. Because our intake information stated a specific hotel, we had to notify and be approved for the move. Relatively painless, but still an inconvenience, and they obviously could have said no.

Hope Williams isn't too gassed...he's up in 2 matches for the 1/4!

Khateri getting beat up 6-0 at the break

And just like that with the Fall! What a recovery

Akhmadudinov down 7-2 at the break. The Georgian got a 4 point run in the first 15 seconds. Russian was definitely expecting to at least medal if not win at 65