2017 world Taekwondo championships (June 24 - 30)

[_Navid_]

So 2 years has passed again and almost time for another exciting world championships.

In 2015 Iran literary destroyed the competition and won the men's event with 3 Golds and 1 Bronze with star performances from Mehdi "terminator" Khodabakhshi and Farzan "Tsunami" Ashurzadeh.

2015 Men's ranking

1 Iran 65
2 Russia 50
3 Uzbekistan 43
4 South Korea 42

In addition we won our first ever female world championship medal in an Olympic sport by then 16 years old Kimia Alizadeh.

This year the competition is expected to be very close with South Korea, Russia, Azerbaijan, Mexico and Iran having a shot at winning Men's tournament and South Korea, Britain, Taipei, China in women's.

I am expecting 4 medals in Men's and 1 in women's (Blue coloured).

Our Roaster:

Male category:

-54kg: Armin Hadi Poor
-58kg Farzan Ashoorzadeh
-63kg: Mirhashem Hosseini
-68kg: Abolfazl Yaghoobi
-74kg: Masoud Hajizavareh
-80kg: Pooria Erfanian
-87kg: Saeid Rajabi
+87kg: Sajjad Mardani

Female category:

-49kg: Nahid Kiani
-57kg: Tayyebeh Parsa
-62kg: Kimia Alizadeh
-67kg: Melika Mirhosseini
-73kg: Zahra Pooresmaeil
+73kg: Akram Khodabandeh

[Irannn]

^^^
Kimia Alizadeh didn't participate anywhere after the Olympics, it's not clear if she really recovered from her surgery or not. I don't consider her a medal favorite for now. I believe there is an outside chance for Nahid Kiani

in the men's side I think our best chance is in bottom 4 weights. Armin Hadipour is actually a very great fighter, he and Hashem Hossein both won the Greece tournament (the same level as the Worlds) Hajji-Z and Mardani didn't convince at all in the Greek Cup still they are both experienced. Yaghoubi is also great and I hope he wins the gold this time even though he is a bit short and might have problems against taller opponents and also Farzan didn't participate much after Rio, he went to Greek Cup but had to withdraw because of Israel draw, still they picked him over Kazemi (Greek Cup gold medalist)
both Rajabi and Erfanian weren't good in Greece but they had no other choice to pick them, because Khodabakhshi withdrew from the trials (he is ruining his career actually) they are both young and anybody form Iran is a medal favorite in the men's side.

[_Navid_]

^^^
Kimia Alizadeh didn't participate anywhere after the Olympics, it's not clear if she really recovered from her surgery or not. I don't consider her a medal favorite for now. I believe there is an outside chance for Nahid Kiani

in the men's side I think our best chance is in bottom 4 weights. Armin Hadipour is actually a very great fighter, he and Hashem Hossein both won the Greece tournament (the same level as the Worlds) Hajji-Z and Mardani didn't convince at all in the Greek Cup still they are both experienced. Yaghoubi is also great and I hope he wins the gold this time even though he is a bit short and might have problems against taller opponents and also Farzan didn't participate much after Rio, he went to Greek Cup but had to withdraw because of Israel draw, still they picked him over Kazemi (Greek Cup gold medalist)
both Rajabi and Erfanian weren't good in Greece but they had no other choice to pick them, because Khodabakhshi withdrew from the trials (he is ruining his career actually) they are both young and anybody form Iran is a medal favorite in the men's side.

I agree about Mehdi ruining his bright career over nothing. I have told him several times on instagram too but he believes the coach doesn't want him.
These sport stars like Kianoush and Khodabakhshi fighting with their coach and not participating not only hurts their careers but also Iranian sport and our potential medals.

I think Kimia has such self confidence that she will do well regardless of injury or new weight. I also think the greece cup cannot be compared to world champs and those youngsters who are participating for the first time won't do too well. Let's see and hope for the best

[Irannn]

I agree about Mehdi ruining his bright career over nothing. I have told him several times on instagram too but he believes the coach doesn't want him.
These sport stars like Kianoush and Khodabakhshi fighting with their coach and not participating not only hurts their careers but also Iranian sport and our potential medals.

I think Kimia has such self confidence that she will do well regardless of injury or new weight. I also think the greece cup cannot be compared to world champs and those youngsters who are participating for the first time won't do too well. Let's see and hope for the best

Yes that's true and I can't understand athletes like him, coaches want success for their own good, he had to prove himself for the coach, he and Rajabi both lost to the same guy (Larin of Russia) in Greece, that was just fair to have a trial between them. I hope I'm wrong but I think he is already ruined his career. in Iran it's hard to get your spot in the NT back when you lose that to someone else.

Actually the level was quite high in Greece. top countries like Iran could enter more than one athlete and if I remember correctly we had something like 70-80 athletes per weight, most of big countries in this sport sent their A team to this tournament, I know Korea and few more weren't there but still the level was quite high.

this is the first time for some of these guys but they are not inexperienced, Hadipour, Hosseini and Rajabi are around for a while, they all won the Asian Championship last year , Hadipour and Rajabi won the Universiade two years ago (Unviersiade is a quality tournament in this specific sport) , only Erfanian is somehow "new". Actually I somehow consider Hadipour as our best chance here, even though beating that Korean guy Kim Tae-hun will be hard for the gold medal, Hadipour once got robbed badly in GP event against this guy. All of our guys have chance for medal as usual, nothing is guaranteed though, who could expect Farzan losing to the weakest athlete of his weight in Rio (man that still hurts )

They changed the scoring system after the Olympics, more points for body kicks, I believe these new rules are in favor of our athletes.

one last thing, Hajji-Zavareh will be under pressure this time, he had a unique technique (media called that monkey kick) back in 2015 helped him to win the gold, they made that forbidden two days after his gold medal just to prevent him from winning more. they will be watching him closely.

[_Navid_]

^ Thanks for the info. Yes, Farzan's loss still hurts me badly too. It happened only 12 hours after Salimi was robbed a medal and completed that terrible day. I was watching it in Iran with my whole relatives and got into a verbal fight with them and left the house after the match when they started mocking him.

[Irannn]

here is the draw
http://www.worldtaekwondo.org/compet...7/information/

54: not bad for Hadipour, he avoided the Korean till the final, still he has to beat probably Russia and Belgium for a podium finish.
58: good draw for Farzan, no Israel in his side, I think he has no problem till the semifinal but you never know
63: Guess who is Hosseini's 1st round opponent ?! yes the guy who beat Farzan in Rio ! I hope Hosseini takes a nice revenge here. he has a very very tough second round with Joel Gonzalez (twice olympic medalist) if I'm not wrong Hosseini beat him in Greece a month ago. even after that he still needs two more wins for a medal. a very tough draw for him.
68: Yaghoubi as seed 8 will face the #1 seed in QF (he has to beat tough Spanish in round of 16) this guy Lee Dae-Hoon is the face of Korean taekwondo. as far as I remember he never lost to the Iranians and Yaghoubi himself lost to him before (at least once in a Grand Prix) to me that's his real final.
74: Not a bad draw for Hajji, I expect him to make it to the semis, there is only couple good athletes in his way, Egypt or Jordan probably
80: Very bad draw for Erfanian, Russia in 2nd round and Korea in 3rd round. I doubt he can go further. the gold medal favorite Milad Beigi of AZE is in other side of the draw.
87: Another bad draw, Rajabi has Cuba in 2nd round and if he wins he wll face World #1 of Russia in pre-QF, the same guy who beat him and Khodabakhashi in Greece. there is also another very good athlete in hsi way to the semis, Lutalo Muhamad of GBR.
+87: Mardani has no problem till the QF , where he will face either BLR or GBR, the British guy si the same guy who eliminated Mardani in Rio. he is not in good shape recently. so that will be 50-50.

49: tough draw for Kiani, after Morocco she has to beat Rank 3 from France in 2nd round. this girl Aziez had been beaten by iranian girls before though. I give her 20-30% chance for a medal here.
57: Interesting draw for Tayebeh Parsa ! if she wins the 1st match, she will face Raheleh Asemani from Belgium ! not a bad draw in general but she is not that good to win a medal.
62: Kimia has to start with Chile and then second seed from Canada, despite being the 2nd seed the Canadian girl is nothing special. she will face the current Asian Champion from TPE in 3rd round. not a bad draw in general. if she is even 50% ready she can win a medal here.
67: Mirhosseini after beating India will face the top seed from Turkey which is probably the end of her tour here.
73: Pouresmaeil is a world junior champion, but I don't expect much from her for now, 1st round or 2nd round exit.
+73: Khodabandeh used to be our best chance after Kimia, but not anymore, if she wins the 1st match she has a tough Mexican athlete next and then Korea. no chance at all.

[Ata]

In 58 we have another Iranian that competes for Iceland, Meisam Rafiei

58: good draw for Farzan, no Israel in his side, I think he has no problem till the semifinal but you never know

[Ata]

Is the big traitor Milad Beigi in the competition???

Its a wonder that Milad is still alive after what he did against Iran

[Irannn]

In 58 we have another Iranian that competes for Iceland, Meisam Rafiei

Rafiei is competing for Iceland for a big while, he is actually living there so that's OK to me, he was a member of Iran Junior team long time ago. apparently used to study in Iceland or something like that.
there are more Iranians there plus Rafiei, Asemani and Begi, Dina Pouryounes for Netherlands . she is a former Asian medalist for Iran.

Is the big traitor Milad Beigi in the competition???
Its a wonder that Milad is still alive after what he did against Iran

he is well alive and dominating the competition, actually he lost only once in past couple of years, that was Olympic semifinal, the only time we probably wanted him to win ! to keep Khodabakhshi alive for the bronze medal. not saying he lost intentionally but he probably couldn't handle the mental pressure after beating another Iranian.

a month ago he won the gold medal in Islamic Games in Baku after completely dominating his Iranian opponent in semifinal. he is the best in this weight by far.

[Irannn]

Hadipour secured our first medal in the 1st day, he made it to the semifinal against Thailand. the final round (Semis and final) will be held tomorrow

[_Navid_]

lol. for some reason this morning I thought the games are in Europe and won't start till midday for me. Then went to youtube and saw the video started 4 hours ago! Thanks to youtube I watched his games back to back without waiting and knowing the results.

Great job by him!! And I like the new rules.

[IRAN300]

For those who criticize Khodabakhshi, please read this about the whole story to know more about Mr Bibak's methods.
http://www.varzesh3.com/news/1415592...³ÛŒØ¯Ù‡-است
Similar interview from Asbaghi can be found also.

[_Navid_]

For those who criticize Khodabakhshi, please read this about the whole story to know more about Mr Bibak's methods.
http://www.varzesh3.com/news/1415592...³ÛŒØ¯Ù‡-است
Similar interview from Asbaghi can be found also.

I read that interview one month ago and yes he has a point.

[_Navid_]

A happy and sad event today. Hajizavareh secures Iran's 2nd medal while the Egyptian opponent hits him in the face. He becomes unconscious and is in hospital right now. Wish him recovery by tomorrow's semi final.

Watch the moment below:

Our first female athlete Kiani loses in quarter final. Not a bad run.

[pres80]

A happy and sad event today. Hajizavareh secures Iran's 2nd medal while the Egyptian opponent hits him in the face. He becomes unconscious and is in hospital right now. Wish him recovery by tomorrow's semi final.

Watch the moment below:

Our first female athlete Kiani loses in quarter final. Not a bad run.

Happens at 7:28:06 mark. He gets punched in the face. It's not a pretty sight. He seemed to be badly injured/unconscious. Hope for the best and he is ok.