Window12

I agree Vafaipour is more about muscle than technique- so I agree Rahmani should be able to get past him to cement his name as a contender for 86 kg spot

There is a Persian/Arabic idiom that roughly translates as famine of men in senior positions. I wonder if USA wrestling entering a transient such era. I guess the big name is Kyle Snyder who I presume is the odds on favourite to be in the world team. If Kyle Dake does not make it I guess the next big name for USA is Zahid or have I missed someone out?

I don’t know how old Zahid Valencia is but I would imagine he has a few good seasons ahead of him. Do you think he can now pick up the mantel for the US wrestling internationally perhaps now that some of the veterans such as JB Kyle Dake DT Kyle Snyder etc are entering or entered the final stretch of their careers?

Presumably Vafaipour is not competing at 86? If he is it would be potentially interesting match up of an established veteran v talented new kid on the block. May be a bit like the old match ups between Yazdani and Tahgavi.

I think Goudatzi is coaching . I randomly come across some instagram videos of him coaching but I don’t know how active he is or which club he is doing it at.

None that is common knowledge or overtly in the public domain. They are from two adjacent counties is the southern shores of the Caspian Sea ( Zare is from Mazandaran and Massoumi is from Gilan) so they are products of different schools and are not as a a matter of course expected to train together and have deep familiarity with each other. In fact the rivalry does seem to spill over in the social media between supporters from Gilan or Mazandaran and does tend to get a bit tribal. This is quite different to Yazdani and Ghassempour and I understand they did train at times together and were/are very familiar with each other as they are from Mazandaran school as it were.

Massoumi’s results have been on an upward trajectory and he seems to be entering his senior era although Zare’s strengths are his gas tank and comparatively higher experience which may still seem him through. It feels like it will be closer than previous occasions but also too close to call for me personally.

I prefer the free style but the recent GR European and Asian competitions had interesting and watchable matches…

Yes in this context what has happened in Bulgaria makes sense. I guess it will potentially be good for Bulgarian wrestling. As far as Bahrain Albania Qatar Slovakia and Sanmarino are concerned I guess having Olympic/World/European medals is good on paper for the reputation of sporting prowess for the country. Hungry and AZE are probably happy to say we are still keeping up with the rest of them as well. Although AZE use of transfers is likely to be counterproductive for the native wrestlers based on what you and others have said.Interestingly a couple of years ago Massoumi was rumoured to be offered life changing money to move to AZE. I suspect that may still happen if he does not get past Zare as Iran rep.

I see your point. I suspect the potential future transfers need to weigh their options more carefully and opt for countries with 0 or near 0 wrestling cultures and not run the risk of backlash from the recipient countries own wrestling stakeholders. I guess any wrestler who was considering going to Bulgaria is now wise to the fact that it would not be a good move. What do you think of Valiev wrestling for Albania. What’s is the indigenous wrestling culture like there- approximately close to zero too? Having him wrestle for Albania helps or hinders indigenous development of wrestlers in Albania? Could there be benefits also for some countries in terms of encouraging wrestling within the country by taking elite world or continental medal contender transfers?

By the looks of things Bahrain is ok with having Tazhudinov and not terribly bothered about bona fide wrestlers not getting an opportunity to represent the country. I guess it also comes down to where you choose to go to.

I am not sure who will emerge the winner in the next match between Massoumi and Zare. Its too close to call for me and fun to watch out for. But to be fair to Zare, he has been quite exceptional upto now at age 24 and since he started his senior level career in 2020 (age 19 I guess) after winning multiple age level titles, over the past 4-5 years he has won 2 gold and bronze at the world and a silver and bronze in Olympic competition. This matches very respectably against anyone else tally currently active bar Sadullaev. I mean even David Taylor who has been very dominant in the 86Kg category since 2018, lost out one year due to injury, lost one year on gold to Yazdani and lost out on being a US team member due to Brooks. This is notwithstanding that Zare has had formidable competition in Akgul, Petriashvilli and Steveson etc...

If Masoumi beats Zare in Takhti cup then by definition Zare will not have fulfilled the condition to be team member. This is too close for me to call. I would not mind if Massumi or Zare for that matter competed for another country to both have a shot at the world title. Perhaps Bahrain ? Also who are going to be the 97 Kg contenders? Is Azapira able to compete? Babaloo? Azimi? Goleij?

There are occasional matches when an ultra passive wrestler loses 2 shot clock points at 2-0 which but actually this would be the correct result as the more passive wrestler would have perhaps lost by more than that if they chose a more attacking strategy. There are a couple of Taha Akgul matches against Zare where Akgul lost 2 shot clock points in the match but that was a fair outcome as if he had chosen the direct attacking and less defensive approach the loss would have been with a higher difference. The shot clock rule correctly help determine the winner. With random assignments of the criteria these situations would be less fairly determined and may promote more defensive approach .

I would be very much interested to see Masoumi vs Geno as well as against Zare

I think the massoumi that lost to Zare has improved a lot. For example when lost to munkthur a couple of years ago he lost points which I thought were due to inexperience. He was very dominant yesterday against munukhtur. I think the past score massoumi vs Zare is now not an indicator of what may happen in the future anymore.

I guess the elephant in the room now in terms of discussion merit worthiness is Massoumi. Is he now better than Zare? Is there anyone active in the weight class better than him?

The Yas-Ghassempour at 86 seems a bit of moot debate. The initial signals 2-3 months ago after an interview that Dabir had given was that Yazdani had put on weight after the shoulder operation and was unlikely to make it to 86 and was going for 92 or 97 ( which seems doubly uncharted if you add the as yet unknown consequence of the shoulder issue). At that time Dabir seemed to think Ghassempour would be a suitable candidate for 86. I guess we would know soon enough if his hunch/assessment is correct or not.

Amouzad beat the Japanese guy 4-0 . Of the 4 points 2 were scored on shot clocks and one was due to the Japanese competition fleeing the mat. Goes to show how negatively the Japanese guy was wrestling. As the Iranian commentators sometimes say - he did not come to wrestle, he came to lose with a low score.

Firouzpour won his junior world titles at 86. I wonder if he is considering a move to the lower weight…

Taha Akgul visiting Iran today

If Khalili has been given the spot why should he want to sue anyone? Perhaps it will be for over burdening him with expectations….

Interestingly Massoumi was told in the post medal ceremony interview that Gabel Stevenson may make a come back. He said it may be best if he remained retired having left on top as he may not get the results he wants having been away from the game for 4 years. At least Masoumi does not seem bothered but I wonder if he is right. Will Gable be at the same level having been away from the sport for a bit….

There is/was a Georgian Sumo wrestler-Tochinoshin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tochinoshin_Tsuyoshi

I agree that Mobin Azimi did not do so well at 86kg but I remember at the time they were mentioning it was such a difficult cut for him and basically he is just a bit too big to cut to 86 kg.i recall a number of coaches were advising him not to do it but i think he had to try due to it being an Olympic weight. 92 seems to be the ideal weight for him just now. I think there is going to be a match between him and Firouzpour in Zagreb in February which should be interesting.