2018 World Wrestling Championships - Budapest (20th - 28th Oct.)

[Nokhodi]

We've been analyzed very well.
All our weaknesses are known.
However, better we learn this lesson now than in the Olympics.
Lots of time to make changes and improve.

[Irannn]

Just an assumption, could it be that this competition was so close after the Asian games, that some wrestlers were already exhausted before this tournament, with the new weight tests and regulations?
I don’t want to make excuses, just wondering though... What do you think?

I don't think so. they had enough time to recover but one thing is true that maybe Asian Games forced them to change their normal prepration program and focus on that. for example Hassan Yazdani didn't face a quality wrestler since 2017 Worlds in Paris. this year he only wrestled in Iran national trials and the Asian Games. while they should send him somewhere else as well

Iran finished the competition with 3 bronze medals. no more matches for us tomorrow, we will finish 4th, 5th or 6th depending on what Cuba and Turkey do tomorrow. both of them have a wrestler in repechage and if they win the bronze they will surpass Iran. we already know the top 3, Russia 1st, USA 2nd and Georgia 4th.

poor performance but to be honest that was expected. only Yazdani's defeat was a bit surprising (but we knew this American guy is on fire this year) but we lost so many winnable matches, and we were very very unlucky with the draw. most of our wrestlers could easily win a bronze or silver if they were on the other side of the draw.

we faced USA 4 times here, lost all 4 of them. on other hand we faced Russia 3 times and we won all of those 3 matches. which means we had weaknesses against certain group of wrestlers. we really have to change our style, this is not working against American wrestlers because they don't get tired easily. and let's be honest I'm not that optimistic about the Olympics. to me we have only 2 very good wrestlers. Yazdani and Karimi. (Hadi did great here, he was very good but still he is not consistent) and unfortunately 92kg is not an Olympic weight. Karimi has to either cut back to 86kg and challenge Yazdani or moves up to 97kg where he will be hugely undersized.

I think Atri is our best chance at 57. I think he is getting better. people don't remember that Hassan Rahimi was even worse than him in his first 2 tries but he won a World bronze in his 3rd try and won so many medals after that. our hands are completely empty at 65. at the moment I don't think we even qualify for the Olympics in this weight. we have 1-2 years left to find someone better. 74kg is no better. I'm done hoping something from Hosseinkhani. he wrestled great agaisnt Burroughs but it doesn't matter since he always losses the same way. again things don't look good for 97kg. Goleij is useless. I think Karimi is our best chance here and of course we have to see what Reza Yazdani is going to do. he wrestled in the laegue couple of times recently but he didn't go to the national camp and nobody knows what's his plan. if he commits to the training even at this age he is still a medal chance. 125kg looks better with Hadi and also Ghasemi who will come back next year.

[_Navid_]

Can't wait for Snyder-Laev match volume II tonight. Top 2 pound for pound wrestlers in the world.
Still remember the goosebumps I got from their last year's final!

[Hadi]

Hassan Yazdani was unlucky to lose in his first match.

He needs better game management and coaching. And he has also stepped up a weight class which isnt easy

having said that, he is by far the best wrestler Iran has produced since Sourian. he is only 24 and has easily another 4 years in him

[Adesor Vafaseya]

Hassan Yazdani was unlucky to lose in his first match.
He needs better game management and coaching. And he has also stepped up a weight class which isnt easy
having said that, he is by far the best wrestler Iran has produced since Sourian. he is only 24 and has easily another 4 years in him

Few corrections.
He is 23.
He alreday won last year GOLD at this new weight in World Championships (2017 Paris) in addition to his Asian Golds both at Asian Games, and Asian Championships all at this new weight in 2017!
So the argument of “new weight” doesnt appy at anymore. He was the defending World Champ at this weight!
He lost to a very good US wrestler, Taylor, who studied him well, its actually his second career loss to him. He needs to study Taylor as well. Thats all.
On his way to Bronze he beat all other opponents, including the Russian guy, very comfortably.
I am not worried about Yazdani, he is still one of the best ever!

[Irannn]

The Greco competition starts tomorrow, we already have the draw for first 4 weights. again we were very unlucky with the draw

55, Molsem Naderi has a very good Georgian wrestler in first round, then Russia. also the top favorite from Azerbaijan is also in his bracket. Naderi sometimes can score big throws but I don't see him winning a medal here with this tough draw.

63, Mohsen Hajipour is probably the only one in first day with an OK draw. still not easy. his first round looks easy but then he will wrestle Moldovia or USA. the moldovan wrestler is pretty good, if he wins next is probably Tasmuradov from Uzbekistan who is a VERY good wrestler but usually loses to Iranian wrestlers ! I think he has a chance for medal specially if he wins his 2nd match. but he is way too inconsistent . sometimes he beat Olympic Champion and next day he can lose to someone random

72, very hard draw for Mohammad Ali Geraei, first round is OK against Korea but then it will USA or Turkey , I think he can make it to the QF without problem but then it will be Rasul Chunayev from Azerbaijan. one of the favorites for the gold. if he wins his SF opponent will be very tough. either Russia, Georgia or defending champion from Germany. Geraei is a great wrestler but he is cutting a lot to make 72kg. I think it's all about his physical shape. if he is in good shape he can win a medal.

82, another very hard draw, this time for Abdevali, he has Poland in first round, then Georgia (world bronze medalist) and then Azerbaijan or Bulgaria both very good. but I think if he doesn't make a stupid mistake he can beat all of these guys. semifinal will be even harder.most probably Russia or the defending Champion from Armenia.

I really hope to see at least 2 of them in semifinal for afternoon session. we have only few chances left to win a gold medal here and two of them will wrestle tomorrow. beside Abdevali and Geraei I only see Hossein Nouri as a gold medal favorite.

[Irannn]

Saeid Abdevali made it to the semifinal. and will wrestle Turkey in the semis. he will have a very good chance for the gold . his main rival from Armenia lost to Turkey. I think Turkey will be a good matchup for him.

after two tough wins Geraei somehow got robbed against Chunayev. the cuation they gave him was indeed controversial he lost 5-4. Chunayev will wrestle world champion Stabler from Germany in the semis. his chance doesn't look good to win this and put Geraei in repechage.

Hajipour had the chance of his life for a medal here. he was down 5-0 against Moldova had a great comeback took the lead 6-5 but when Islomov was dead tired Hajipour made a mistake and gave up 2pts takedown and lost it. Islomov lost to Tasmuradov to eliminate Hajipour.

Naderi had a good match against Gerogia. made a mistake and lost it. Georgian wrestler is in semifinal against Azerbaijan but I don't think he can win that.

[_Navid_]

Abdevali looks in top form. Won his first 2 matches by fall.

[Ab-Gosht]

is abdevali up tomorrow?

[Irannn]

is abdevali up tomorrow?

Yep but for bronze. because he lost to Turkey 6-4. our misery continues .

both Naderi and Geraei are also out and won't get a second chance for repechage. miserable performance. and we continue our tradition of losing close matches. Hajipour lost 7-6, Geraei lost 5-4 and Abdevali lost 5-4 (later 6-4 after a desperate challenge)

of course the caution they gave him was dubious but expected. you know rules are different when you face certain countries.

[shahin2000]

This Abdevali guy never gets a break. It all started with the London games losing to the French wrestler in obvious obvious referee bias. In all honesty from stamina point of view he is the fittest wrestler we got in azad or greco.

[Irannn]

I lost motivation ot even think about tomorrow matches but looking at the draw we are against unlukcy. Mardani got the only wrestler I was afraid about from Japan in the first round. Nouri has a tough draw plus a possible Israel opponent in 3rd round and Geraei junior draw isn't any better he has 3-4 Olympic medalists plus a Russian on his side.

to be honest I don't think we can win a gold medal here but if there is a chance. that will be Nouri.

[_Navid_]

Abdevali got robbed yet again. The gave him a rubbish caution and then when the Turk gets a caution from the ref, the other judges disallow it.

[Irannn]

nothing for today. Nouri who was our last chance for gold lost it to Ukraine. he was leading and dominating the match but made a mistake in one of his pushouts and boom. 4pts throw.
Geraei junior had two good wins but then lost to Kazakhstan. he is good and probably with bright future but he loses points easily.
and Mardani lost to the gold medal favorite Ota of Japan with the same way he lost to him in Jakarta and Ota got robbed next round against Kazakhstan.

Mardani is already out. Nouri and Geraei have to wait until the semifinals to know their fates. I think Nouri will get a second chance and Geraei will not.

our 3 remaining wrestlers are NOT good enough. no chance for gold and probably no chance for medal. I'm afraid our Greco team won't finish in top 10. maybe not even top 20 in team ranking. this is going to be our worst ever results since they are having both Greco and Freestlye competitions together . since 2005.

[_Navid_]

20 weights and not a single freaking gold medal for Iran. Most embarrassing display in our wrestling history.