Takuto_Otoguro

Even if he only cares about another Olympic gold and wants to compete in the least amount of freestyle tournaments possible, it would probably be a good idea to get a medal here and make qualifying for the Olympics easier. If he doesn't go it's possible the weight doesn't get qualified. He would then need to go through the process of making the team and then qualifying the weight before then going to the Olympics. If he gets a medal here he can focus more on WWE until the trials final.

I recall it coming out right after he won worlds that he was going Greco at 67kg, but I don't believe he's on their Greco team either. Maybe he lost in the trials or something. Bizarre situation. Don't think anyone can do both outside of maybe HW.

What happened to the Japanese world champ from last year?

Otoguro will also be randomly drawn into the bracket

I think Musukaev likely techs Bajrang before he can get anything going but that is an interesting match, would have loved to see it a few years ago. I think this is the year Bajrang fails to medal. He won't beat the Iranian regardless.

Ghasempour is injured and not going. He tore something in one leg, was recovering, then tore the exact same thing in the other leg. Azarpira will go for Iran.

Otoguro vs Amouzad is the match of the tournament for me

Having a look at the Freestyle entries for worlds yesterday I noticed that the only athletes under the "AIN" label are from Belarus. No Russians are listed in the entries for worlds. They were at cadets and juniors. And considering that Belarus is here I assume this is some kind of mistake?

Think that was bad? Watch his semi final haha.

Lol, huh? Why would the guy who is the clear number 1 at 86kg and has been kicking Yazdani's ( and I would rate Yaz above Snyder) ass multiple times all throughout his prime go up 11 KG and wrestle Snyder? Taylor would lose to Geno also, is Geno better than him or just bigger? Nickal was never a real 97kg wrestler and was half hearted anyway. Clearly wanted out and into MMA. Taylor beat him too as i'm sure you know. No slander but Snyder has far more than 1 loss and is no way the second best wrestler in the world in 2023. Great wrestler but not second best regardless of weight. If anything I think you are committing slander against Taylor the great.

No way is Snyder P4P 2. Lost to Sharifov in 2019 worlds and was literally seconds away from losing to Goleij of all people in 2021. He's a slight favourite if Sadulaev at 97 disappears but I would put a few guys over him p4p.

His best bet is to hope Taylor gets old and declines before Paris. At Taylor's age it's possible. Other than that he knows at this point that Taylor is his superior. No way will he switch weights before Paris at least. Senior medals from 70kg - 97kg would be a great accomplishment, though.

Eye test tells me Taylor is America's P4P number 1. Definitely at a comparatively easier weight but i'm not sure that if you adjusted for size that there's another wrestler on the planet outside of Sadulaev that could have dismantled Yazdani the way he did in the last world finals.

Within Iran itself the events are usually actually free to go and watch, believe it or not. I haven't followed wrestling hard core in a few years but I am getting back into it now. Back then (like 3 - 4 years ago) when dates and venues were announced for pretty much any event it was also mentioned that entry is free. I have no idea regarding Russia but I am sure the wrestlers there get the vast majority of their income through government rewards for winning and not because they can sell out arenas.

The international styles will be relegated to the participation of a few hobbyists if they were to be removed from the Olympics. You either need to be in the Olympics or be financially viable on your own. Wrestling is not MMA, internationally the vast majority rely on government handouts for winning medals. This is true even for countries where wrestling is "huge" like Iran. The sport is not a money maker and has basically no paying fan base.

Even Vito and Zahid have junior world silvers if they were to both make it

There was a time when you could type a (modern) wrestlers name and country code into the Youtube search bar and see all their matches at UWW events going back to 2014 or so. Unfortunately UWW ruined it in the past year or two by making videos private and only accessible through their website then ruined it further by making it only accessible through the UWW app or having a UWW account. Yazdani's matches should still be pretty easy to find though. I think his match vs Makoev in 2019 is a good example of his general style in a one sided match. Him vs Naifanov or Kurugliev for something for competitive.

He doesn't have the tank to win world medals. Don't see how that changes if he represents a country where he can be lazy and still make the team with ease. I don't put any stock into a win over a completely washed Karimi at world cup.

Feel sorry for Zare. He really thought he lucked out with Steveson retiring early.