CA_Wrestler

I would hope Dom does a lot of scoring. Especially since Helen's special guest was there all last week.

That is true about her staying at 72kg and look good on the resume, but 72kg is going to have very thin competition this year in Belgrade and I'd rather see her against the best competition at an Olympic weight to see where she stands. I definitely think she'd be way better at 68kg than Molinari.

It's a toss up for me between Welker and Guilford. They're pretty close. The only reason why I'm saying Makoyed has the best chance is because she has the mobility and attacks from neutral to score. It'll be really interesting for this year's World Championship team, but I'll be much more interesting seeing who goes where in terms of weight classes for the Olympic WFS team. I wanted to see Elor bump up and try to win the 76kg spot already instead of waiting a year. Seems pointless to wait until next year to do so because 72kg is going to be so depleted of all the top WFS talent at the World Championships since most dropped to 68kg or bumped up to 76kg around the world.

I'll clarify myself then. As far as a top country goes(like the US), Pan Ams are the easiest compared to the competition that's there.

lol....nobody counts national titles unless your career is done and can't achieve anything else. I don't take too much stock in that Pan-Am championship from 2018 because winning that tournament is like winning the Spanish Grand Prix. For any senior member of the US team(especially the womens team), the Pan-Am championship is the easiest continental championship in the world. The Jr World title is good. I do agree about Adeline not beating Blades the next time and only because it's so close and it'll be almost impossible to get the gas tank up to par in that short of a timeframe for Final X. The two that have the best chance to beat her domestically are Makoyed and Guilford. Looking forward to all of the team trials, should be fun!

I said a few years ago on the old forum that if Blades went up to 76kg closer to the Olympic cycle and kept progressing that she'd have a great, long career because nobody would be able to deal with her length and athleticism. However, let's not forget Adeline had twins. Having twins myself, I can guarantee you that there's almost no time for anything else besides taking care of them when they are this young. I was completely exhausted and my wife was way more exhausted than I was. Blades is NOT the best female American wrestler, either. She hasn't won anything of significance yet on the senior level. The ranking tournament she won was weaker than the Zagreb Open in terms of quality of competitors. Her best international win so far was overwhelming Medet Kyzy at Ibrahim Moustafa with her speed and athleticism and that was good to see because I saw her potential turning into results against one of the better ranked 76kg wrestlers. Her best domestic win was over Makoyed at the US Open You are right in saying she has the most potential, but we'll have to see how she does at the WTT and Final X. If she takes the spot, I definitely think she can medal at the World Championships.

Was it because of da pakololo or something else?

I'm just very interested in seeing the 76kg WFS semis and finals.

72kg is going to be a wasteland as far as top wrestlers go since all of the other top contenders dropped to 68 or went up to 76 because of Olympic aspirations.

He'll be ready for the World Championships this year and the Olympics. Since we haven't seen him compete internationally for a while, it's hard to tell where he's at. So, this brings up another question at WFS 68kg.....I can't remember, but who else would be contending for the spot that could actually medal? I really think Amit should drop down, but I don't really know if she cuts weight well. She might be better off at 76kg because I have no clue.

That would be crazy since she's been the favorite in my mind to win another world title this year and another Olympic title in '24, but that's life. Especially when you're an older athlete and grown up things happen. I kept wondering why Otoguro wasn't wrestling since the Olympics. I finally found out last December when he won the Emperor's Cup. He said that he'd lost all motivation after winning the Olympic title because he had achieved his dream and nothing else to shoot for. He was still practicing every day, but didn't want to compete in Oslo or Belgrade.

Nah, we don't need a clown show there.

I forgot that it started already haha. Should be really fun

There are going to be a lot of excellent matches at the Meiji Cup. The reason why a lot of wrestlers also competed at non-Olympic weights at last December's Emperor's Cup is because if they lose in the upcoming Meiji Cup, they can still challenge at the non-Olympic weights if they won if the Emperor's Cup like: Risako at 59kg, Kiyooka at 55kg. None of the other world champions from 2021 and 2022 for the womens team competed at non-Olympic weights last December, so if they lose at Meiji, they're out for a year unless they can compete in U20/U23. Japan's U23 team has mainly the women that haven't been able to make the senior team or made it once. U23(Umi Ito, Tsugumi Sakurai and Yuka Inagaki the most notable), U20(Kiyooka with some others plus 2 high school students) and U17 national tournaments just happened a few weeks ago. Japan did NOT have anybody competing at 68kg for U23, so I don't know if they're sending anybody for the U23 World championships. Due to lack of depth at that weight, all eligible 68kg wrestlers are competing for the Olympic spot instead. It's going to be amazing. Especially 53kg.

50kg- Yoshimoto(JPN) dominates China's rep in the quarters, then gets 2 pins in the semis and finals. Showdown with Susaki next at the Meiji Cup in June. 53kg- Fujinami(JPN) teched her way through. Showdown between Fujinami, Shidochi and Okuno coming at the Meiji Cup in June 55kg- Tokyo Olympic silver, Pang beats Kataoka(JPN) in the semis, then beats MGL in the finals. Kataoka placed 3rd by beating UZB in the bronze match. 57kg- Nanjo(JPN) beats UZB in the finals. Going to be interesting come June with Risako, Nanjo and Sakurai. Especially because Risako and Nanjo were in the same room for a really long time and are good friends. 59kg- Sakano(JPN) beats China in the finals 62kg- The only real surprise on the womens side was that Tynybekova beat Ozaki 2-2 on criteria in the semis, then went on to win the tournament. It'll be interesting to see how Ozaki performs at the Meiji Cup vs Motoki, Inagaki and Yukako Kawai. 65kg- Long(CHN) beats Yoshitake(JPN) in the finals 68kg- Ishii(JPN) beats Nisha(IND) in the finals 72kg- Bakbergenova(KAZ) beats Niikura(JPN) in the finals 76kg- Nagashima(JPN) lost a really close match, 3-2 to Medet Kzy(KGZ) in the semis and then lost in the bronze match to Pryia(IND) in another close match, 2-1 Team standings: Japan 205 China 149 India 143

Nothing surprising. 5 of their #1s aren't going. -50kg- Susaki hasn't competed in an Asian Championships since 2017 where she won gold. -53kg- Fujinami just needed to get back to 53kg to qualify the weight for the Olympics. I would like to think that Ochir would be fun to watch against Fujinami. But seeing how Fujinami just dominated Ochir the last time they met, I think it'll end up going the same way. -55kg- Kiyooka not competing because she's been dropping back down to 53kg as planned. If she loses at the Meiji Cup, she can still challenge for the 55kg spot in Belgrade. Kataoka is Japan's #2 at 55kg, but is really their #3 since Shidochi also dropped back down last December. -59kg- Risako has been dropping back down to 57kg as planned. if she loses at the Meiji Cup, she can still challenge for the 59kg spot in Belgrade. Sakano is their #1 at this weight now. She's a full-time police officer. I don't see how she can even train properly. -62kg- Motoki not going and it's weird to even think that Ozaki(3x world champion last year, but lost to Motoki in the finals of the Emperor's Cup) is the #2. -76kg- Moro, who just turned 18 isn't going and Japan's real #1(Kagami) is still recovering from a torn pec muscle she had prior to the Emperor's Cup last December. So, their rep going is Nagashima, who is Japan's #3.

I can't find any brackets, either. None to even be found on the UWW page for this tournament or anywhere else.

Beck just got teched by Natami. Beck got in on a double, Natami sprawled, spun around and locked up a lace. It was over shortly after that.

Fujinami td into a semi-half to pin KAZ in 52 seconds

What's interesting about quite a few of these non-ranking tournaments recently is that: For the Klippan Womens International Tournament(seniors), Japan sent a team consisting of only 7 high school students and the won three weights(50, 57 and 62kg). They had one second place finisher(53), two 3rd place finishes(68 and 76) and one 5th place(65). For Dan Kolov, Japan only sent college students for all styles. Fujinami won the collegiate championships at 55kg with ease last year, but I'm sure this is just her testing herself against bigger opponents again. Only 3 more months to determine most of the spots for Japan's 2023 World team/Olympic team. Japan had a national team camp the other week and Fujinami was practicing with Susaki most of the time. You can see Fujinami pinned an opponent today using one of Susaki's signature moves-> Bent leg turk with crossface.

Yep. Leverage is everything in Judo. One of the best examples that I can remember in recent times was David Terao and his NCAA tourney run in 2016. Joey Dance went for a ride courtesy of David Terao and also got Connor Schram in the quarters to advance to the semis with a pin.

Blades was really fortunate on that last sequence...hung on tp win by 1

Tynybevoka and Luo in a super close match.

KGZ trying to turn Blades, slips and Blades on top. Blades with a td and turn to end it via tech 12-1. I said this 2 years ago, but if she is able to win the 76kg spot, a whole lot of people are going to have trouble with her length and speed. The main thing is what Mike mentioned...her inexperience.

KGZ has been looking to throw for the past minute