Road to Olympics 2020 Tokyo

[Footyball]

maybe hafez ghashghaei can compete? in 55 kg

[Irannn]

maybe hafez ghashghaei can compete? in 55 kg

nope. 55kg is not an Olympic weight and beside that he is already out of the olympics. he doesn't meet the requirement , he missed the first qualification window entirely. he and Reza Dehdar were already out of the Olympics for that reason. only few Iranian weightlifters are eligible.

in short only 8 Iranian weightlifters here (minus Dehdar and Ghashghaei and Dadras) plus whoever we send to Switzerland (hopefully Moradi) will be eligible for Tokyo. don't even think about anybody else. and since most of them were in non-Olympic weights. (they still can move to Olympic weights but that's unlikely) our list is already very short

96kg: Sohrab Moradi, Kianoush Rostami. Ayoub Mousavi
109kg: Ali Hashemi
+109kg: Ali Davoudi

[Irannn]

It seems I was wrong about the Mediterranean Weightlifting Cup. this is open to everybody (and not only to Mediterranean countries)

and we just heard Kianoush Rostami is going there to keep his Olympic chance alive.

[Irannn]

update on weightlifting

it seems Saeid Alihosseini changed his mind about retirement (probably after watching the Worlds and realizing how easy he can win a silver in Tokyo) but for keeping his chance alive he has to participate somewhere (Switzerland or San Marino) but there is a problem here. San Marino denied Rostami's entry because it was too late and it seems Switzerland is also denying him for the same reason. in this case both Alihosseini and Rostami will miss the Olympics. apparently our NOC and WL federation are trying to talk to IWF to let these 2 guys participate in that tournament which is the last one before the end of this 6 month window.

[_Navid_]

Damn. I hope they can attend. It is very important.

Let's see if our federation can do something useful for once!

[Irannn]

Damn. I hope they can attend. It is very important.

Let's see if our federation can do something useful for once!

just read an interview with Alihosseini and now I feel really bad because I could solve this
https://www.isna.ir/news/98070907203...A7%D8%B3%D8%AA

in this interview he is saying he never left the national team. they dropped him from the squad because he was injured during the World trials. he never wanted to "retire" and he didn't know Switzerland is his last chance. and now the NOC is his last hope. (he lost hope on the WL federation) . I contacted him couple months before the Asian Champs to tell him this is his last chance (last chance in 1st window) and he told me "thanks , we are aware of that" and then I thought they know the whole thing and didn't contact him again. now I see I was wrong and you never can trust these guys.

I checked the PDF rule book for Switzerland tourney. the deadline for entry was 25 August !! they have every right to reject Rostami or Alihosseini. let's hope they find a solution for this. this is not Olympics or World Championship with strict rules. so it's possible if they bend the rules.

[_Navid_]

just read an interview with Alihosseini and now I feel really bad because I could solve this
https://www.isna.ir/news/98070907203...A7%D8%B3%D8%AA

in this interview he is saying he never left the national team. they dropped him from the squad because he was injured during the World trials. he never wanted to "retire" and he didn't know Switzerland is his last chance. and now the NOC is his last hope. (he lost hope on the WL federation) . I contacted him couple months before the Asian Champs to tell him this is his last chance (last chance in 1st window) and he told me "thanks , we are aware of that" and then I thought they know the whole thing and didn't contact him again. now I see I was wrong and you never can trust these guys.

I checked the PDF rule book for Switzerland tourney. the deadline for entry was 25 August !! they have every right to reject Rostami or Alihosseini. let's hope they find a solution for this. this is not Olympics or World Championship with strict rules. so it's possible if they bend the rules.

I was also reading his interview just now. This is really unreal to me.

In this forum alone we have at least 3 people who knew the details of the qualifying format. How on earth is Hosseini claiming he didn't know this is his last chance. Honestly if these useless people in the federation cannot be bothered to do their job properly I am sure you and I would be more than happy to do these for them free of charge out of our love for Iranian sports.

[Irannn]

I was also reading his interview just now. This is really unreal to me.

In this forum alone we have at least 3 people who knew the details of the qualifying format. How on earth is Hosseini claiming he didn't know this is his last chance. Honestly if these useless people in the federation cannot be bothered to do their job properly I am sure you and I would be more than happy to do these for them free of charge out of our love for Iranian sports.

This is the federation's fault in first place but Alihosseini himself too. he is a PhD graduate (or PhD student) it doesn't take long to read the PDF qualification rules. this is not my job or my career but I already read that for all sports something like 4-5 times to make sure I didn't miss anything.

the WL federation is probably the worst, they had stupid mistakes like this before. but this time I thought they know. and actually it seems they know the rules (and that's why they are sending Sohrab Moradi) but simply didn't care about Alihosseini. they didn't bother to tell him his options.

but the truth is most people working for Iranian sport federations are incompetent . I'm saying that based on my own experience. I can say there are few exceptions. Volleyball used to be the best but not anymore (and that's a mess right now). Archery and Weightlifting are probably the worst right now. then it comes Athletics, Boxing and Tennis. it's kind of funny but I think right now our best federation in term of having plans and management is Swimming !
sometimes I think there is a stupidity test you have to pass to be hired for these organizations in Iran (and also for IRIB sport section) if you are intelligent more than a certain level, they are not going to hire you !

[Rooyintan]

I was just thinking, so far all the past 3 Olympic Games that were hosted in Asia were among Iran's worst performance.

1964 Tokyo - Total Medals for Iran = 2 Bronze
1988 Seoul - Total Medals for Iran = 1 Silver
2008 Beijing - Total Medals for Iran = 2 (Gold and Bronze)

Next year, Iran can only hope that Karate team win many Gold for us. Wrestling not very strong at the moment, Taekwondo perhaps some Bronze medals, Weightlifting in bad shape, other sports no chance unless Fencing surprise us all.

It is almost like Asia as a host is a curse for Iran and our team is Jinxed!

[Nokhodi]

This is the federation's fault in first place but Alihosseini himself too. he is a PhD graduate (or PhD student) it doesn't take long to read the PDF qualification rules. this is not my job or my career but I already read that for all sports something like 4-5 times to make sure I didn't miss anything.
the WL federation is probably the worst, they had stupid mistakes like this before. but this time I thought they know. and actually it seems they know the rules (and that's why they are sending Sohrab Moradi) but simply didn't care about Alihosseini. they didn't bother to tell him his options.
but the truth is most people working for Iranian sport federations are incompetent . I'm saying that based on my own experience. I can say there are few exceptions. Volleyball used to be the best but not anymore (and that's a mess right now). Archery and Weightlifting are probably the worst right now. then it comes Athletics, Boxing and Tennis. it's kind of funny but I think right now our best federation in term of having plans and management is Swimming !
sometimes I think there is a stupidity test you have to pass to be hired for these organizations in Iran (and also for IRIB sport section) if you are intelligent more than a certain level, they are not going to hire you !

The various federations get taken over by one dude and his entire family.
They're often the types who refuse to ever admit they're wrong, don't actually care for the sport and are just looking to use it as an excuse to find a better job or make money on the side.

[littlepersia17]

just read an interview with Alihosseini and now I feel really bad because I could solve this
https://www.isna.ir/news/98070907203...A7%D8%B3%D8%AA

in this interview he is saying he never left the national team. they dropped him from the squad because he was injured during the World trials. he never wanted to "retire" and he didn't know Switzerland is his last chance. and now the NOC is his last hope. (he lost hope on the WL federation) . I contacted him couple months before the Asian Champs to tell him this is his last chance (last chance in 1st window) and he told me "thanks , we are aware of that" and then I thought they know the whole thing and didn't contact him again. now I see I was wrong and you never can trust these guys.

I checked the PDF rule book for Switzerland tourney. the deadline for entry was 25 August !! they have every right to reject Rostami or Alihosseini. let's hope they find a solution for this. this is not Olympics or World Championship with strict rules. so it's possible if they bend the rules.

Heard this too and I felt bad for him. Surely the IWF will help him with entering that comp. It seems like the Iranian federation forgets, a fit Saeed hits 205/250 easy which is good for a medal (probably). I’ve heard some crazy stories about him hitting 220/265 back when he was a teenager, so if there is any human in the world right now that can somewhat compete with Lasha - it’s Saeed.

As for Rostami, I simply don’t want him to be in Tokyo. He’s bombed at Worlds three times in a row. He’s never reliable and the 2016 Gold medal was a bit lucky. He’s my favourite athlete and the reason why I do weightlifting, but he can’t be trusted to total anything.

[Irannn]

Heard this too and I felt bad for him. Surely the IWF will help him with entering that comp. It seems like the Iranian federation forgets, a fit Saeed hits 205/250 easy which is good for a medal (probably). I’ve heard some crazy stories about him hitting 220/265 back when he was a teenager, so if there is any human in the world right now that can somewhat compete with Lasha - it’s Saeed.

As for Rostami, I simply don’t want him to be in Tokyo. He’s bombed at Worlds three times in a row. He’s never reliable and the 2016 Gold medal was a bit lucky. He’s my favourite athlete and the reason why I do weightlifting, but he can’t be trusted to total anything.

Alihosseini doesn't need 205/250 for an Olympic medal. but probably 20kg less ! if you check the results in past 3 years. only few athletes (beside Talakhadze) reached above 440kg in total and none of them will go to Tokyo. Armenia and Belarus have only 1 quota and I'm 99% sure they will use it for 109kg fighting each other for the gold medal and the Uzbek guy Djungabaev is banned for doping. if you check the remaining names they are all 430ish . in fact the best result of 2019 (outside of those athletes) belong to Ali Davoudi with 432 !!! I see only two other weightlifters (Seim of Estonia and Reis of Brazil) reached 440kg in their entire career and they are both not young and are on a decline based on this year's results.

I assume Alihosseini didn't know that. and now he knows he becomes very serious about the Olympics. because if he qualifies, the silver medal is already in his pocket. I really hope it's not too late. I think even Davoudi can easily win that silver/bronze medal in Tokyo (yeah she showed us he is kind of choker but still) but I want Alihosseini to win that medal. he deserves an Olympic medal after all.

I agree about Rostami, but it's better to have him as reserve option in case Moradi doesn't make it. it's easy to win a medal at 96kg. only Tian Tao and that Qatari guy are good in this weight and that's even possible to not see Tian in Tokyo.

anything less than 2 medals in Tokyo will be a very bad result for our weightlifting. and yes the max we can win is a gold and a silver.

[Irannn]

We are only 3 months away from the deadline of Taekwondo qualification. WT announced the new ranking today. I also calculated my own ranking.

just for info, my ranking is a bit different because I also counted all those future points deduction from October to December. WT will apply those deduction monthly but I counted them all already to have a better idea about the final ranking.

Top 5 in each weight (max 1 per country) directly qualify. there is a good chance the 6th athlete also qualifies.

58kg:
1. KOR 415
2. ESP 331
3. IRN 311
4. RUS 309
5. ITA 231
----------
6. MEX 219
7. THA 213
8. AUS 203
* I think it's fair to say Hadipour is qualified 99%. with only 2 major events left. it's hard (almost impossible) for 3 athletes to catch him in the ranking. two of them ar 80 and 100pts behind Hadipour. I can say he is 100% in.

68kg:
1. KOR 453
2. GBR 360
3. CHN 318
4. JOR 297
5. IRN 274
----------
6. BEL 265
7. ESP 265
8. CRO 248
9. TPE 243
10. RUS 241
11. BRA 229
* Hosseini is final in top 5, after missing the WCh because of the visa isssue. he was fantastic winning two GP events + the Universiade.
in this weight I'm going into details because it's a very tight race. per ranking rules we have two kind of events. minor and major. and in minor events you can't collect more than 40pts per year. most of Hosseini's rivals already collected that max 40pts and can't add more in minor easier events. Hosseini himself has 36 and can add 4 more points. Iran will send Hosseini and couple more athletes to an event in Belgrade to collect the remaining "minor events" points.
but the bad news for Hosseini is WT let Europe to organize a special "Euro Champs" to equal with Asian Games (Taekwondo wasn't a part of the European Games) unfortunately that tournament means 40pts up for grab for his European rivals. we have to consider the worst, Hosseini still needs at least something like 50-60pts in remaining major events.

+80kg:
1. RUS 568
2. KOR 398
3. NIG 267
4. GBR 248
5. GER 237
----------
6. SLO 231
7. KAZ 217
8. AZE 207
9. IRN 205
10. CUB 201
11. USA 197
12. GAB 185
* Mardani is currently 4th in WT Ranking and i'm sure Iranian coaches wrongly think he is safe for the Olympics but unfortunately he will lose lots of points in December (because he won the 2016 Final GP) and will go down. he is 9th in my ranking. still possible but he needs big results. for Mardani he only collected 16pts of possible 40pts from minor events and I have a feeling our coaches don't know how badly Mardani needs those remaining 24pts to stay in race. same as Hosseini he has to be worried about that European Championships with 40pts available for his rivals.

-----------------------
There are only 2 major events left this year. GP in Sofia (max 40pts for the gold medalists) and the final GP in Russia (max 80pts) . that final GP in December is the last event of the calendar. so the race is not over until that. both Mardani and Hosseini can qualify for the Olympics with 80pts without thinking about anything else.

[Rooyintan]

We are only 3 months away from the deadline of Taekwondo qualification. WT announced the new ranking today. I also calculated my own ranking.

just for info, my ranking is a bit different because I also counted all those future points deduction from October to December. WT will apply those deduction monthly but I counted them all already to have a better idea about the final ranking.

Top 5 in each weight (max 1 per country) directly qualify. there is a good chance the 6th athlete also qualifies.

58kg:
1. KOR 415
2. ESP 331
3. IRN 311
4. RUS 309
5. ITA 231
----------
6. MEX 219
7. THA 213
8. AUS 203
* I think it's fair to say Hadipour is qualified 99%. with only 2 major events left. it's hard (almost impossible) for 3 athletes to catch him in the ranking. two of them ar 80 and 100pts behind Hadipour. I can say he is 100% in.

68kg:
1. KOR 453
2. GBR 360
3. CHN 318
4. JOR 297
5. IRN 274
----------
6. BEL 265
7. ESP 265
8. CRO 248
9. TPE 243
10. RUS 241
11. BRA 229
* Hosseini is final in top 5, after missing the WCh because of the visa isssue. he was fantastic winning two GP events + the Universiade.
in this weight I'm going into details because it's a very tight race. per ranking rules we have two kind of events. minor and major. and in minor events you can't collect more than 40pts per year. most of Hosseini's rivals already collected that max 40pts and can't add more in minor easier events. Hosseini himself has 36 and can add 4 more points. Iran will send Hosseini and couple more athletes to an event in Belgrade to collect the remaining "minor events" points.
but the bad news for Hosseini is WT let Europe to organize a special "Euro Champs" to equal with Asian Games (Taekwondo wasn't a part of the European Games) unfortunately that tournament means 40pts up for grab for his European rivals. we have to consider the worst, Hosseini still needs at least something like 50-60pts in remaining major events.

+80kg:
1. RUS 568
2. KOR 398
3. NIG 267
4. GBR 248
5. GER 237
----------
6. SLO 231
7. KAZ 217
8. AZE 207
9. IRN 205
10. CUB 201
11. USA 197
12. GAB 185
* Mardani is currently 4th in WT Ranking and i'm sure Iranian coaches wrongly think he is safe for the Olympics but unfortunately he will lose lots of points in December (because he won the 2016 Final GP) and will go down. he is 9th in my ranking. still possible but he needs big results. for Mardani he only collected 16pts of possible 40pts from minor events and I have a feeling our coaches don't know how badly Mardani needs those remaining 24pts to stay in race. same as Hosseini he has to be worried about that European Championships with 40pts available for his rivals.

-----------------------
There are only 2 major events left this year. GP in Sofia (max 40pts for the gold medalists) and the final GP in Russia (max 80pts) . that final GP in December is the last event of the calendar. so the race is not over until that. both Mardani and Hosseini can qualify for the Olympics with 80pts without thinking about anything else.

How about female athletes?

[Irannn]

How about female athletes?

There are 2 methods for the Olympic qualification. ranking and continental qualification tournament. Iran simply never tried to put female athletes in top 6 of world ranking. they will try their chance in Asian QT next year.

the difference is you can't qualify more than 2 through the Asian QT, so if you want more than 2 (per gender) you have to qualify through ranking. our male team is trying to qualify 3. for example if we manage to qualify just 2, we can't send any male athlete to the Asian QT.

Asian QT is just one tournament and only top 2 in each weight qualify, one mistake, one defeat before the final and you are done. for the women's team we have to pick 2 (out of 4 weights), one of them most probably will be Kimia Alizadeh,