DT wins easily 8-0 over Torreblanca who has given him problems in the past. Onto the semis against Kurugliev in what will be the first a couple huge USA-RUS clashes. Well, not the first, the second, I guess, but there will be a couple more.
Getting Colon into the medal rounds is huge, can't believe Dubov went back up top after getting dumped on his back once
Why is Gwiz the only 125kg match going? Akgul and the IRI 125 have been standing on the mat for 5 minutes
@USAWrestling 3m3 minutes ago Mats C and D are not functioning. They are getting the scoreclocks fixed. #BudaWrestle2018
Gwiz blows it late vs China, getting tossed for 4 by a guy that hadn't attempted anything, off a bad shot. That one hurt
Holy shit, did not see that one coming. Akgul took about 20 shots in the 2nd period and never came close to finishing. Nuts
Woof, what a disaster to finish that session that looked so promising after Colon. JB going down, probably not even going to get a shot a bronze, is killer
Predictions and comments on US draws for tomorrow: 57kg - As good as could have reasonably been hoped for as far as Gilman is concerned, tough QF with Eiderashvili/Kang(Bad Korea), other quarter in his half is pretty weak though, with Atli or Arakelian the likely SF opponents if he gets past his QF. Uguev, Takahashi, Erdenebet(the top 3 guys at this weight over the last year) all on the opposite side Gold - Takahashi - JPN(worked for me last year, why not give it another run) Silver - Gilman - USA Bronze - Uguev - RUS Bronze - Kang - PRK 65kg - Not great for Stieber to say the least, almost no chance to medal barring an incredible return to 2016 form. Not only opens with Chakaev, but has winner of Khinch/IRI/TUR in his quarter bracket. Gold - Gadzhiev - POL Silver - Khinchegasvhili - GEO Bronze - Aliev - AZE Bronze - Chakaev - RUS 79kg - Good news, bad news for Dake - Relatively straightforward draw to the semis, but he's on the same side as Gadzhi. Should make the semis and medal round at the least Gold - Gadzhimagomedov - RUS Silver -Takatani - JPN Bronze - Dake - USA Bronze - Akbari - IRI 92kg - Tough draw, but one win and he's in the QF. Need to see J'den from pre-2017 worlds to get a medal here. Gold - Sharifov - AZE Silver - Boke - TUR Bronze - Lusvandorj - MGL Bronze - Karimi - IRI
Day 2 draws: 57kg: 1) Bye rd 1 2) Winner of Italy and Canada. Likely Capellan from Canada, but confident that's a Gilman win. 3) Kang from North Korea wrestles Edisheravili from AZE in rd 1. what a match. winner of that likely gets Sandeep Tomar. Gilman gets the winner of that quad. I don't believe he's ever wrestled Tomar, I know he hasn't wrestled Kang, and he lost to Edish at the cup last year in a match he probably should have won. Kang is really good. Good enough to beat defending world champ Takahashi at the Asian games (he lost Erdenebat, maybe the top guy coming into worlds, in the finals). Either way between Kang, Edish, or even Tomar, Gilman is going to have a hell of a test in his second match. He's an underdog assuming it's Kang or Edish, but i'm not betting against the walking embodiment of the Rocky theme song against a North Korean. 4) His semi would be an easier match. Possibly against known choke artist Suleyman Atli of TUR or Sanayev of KAZ 5) Takahashi JPN, Erdenebat MGL, Uguev RUS, Ortega CUB are my top 4 at the weight and they are all in the top half. Ortega-Uguev is a QF and Takahashi-Erdenebat is a QF. Not a bad draw overall, you know you're getting hammers in this weight class, just so happens that Gilman's comes in his second match. Actually about as good of a draw as he could have hoped for considering the strength of the weight class. That second match is key. That's the tough one. 65kg: 1) A year after drawing a Russian in his first match and Khinchegashvili in his 3rd, Stieber potentially has the same draw. He gets Chakaev in the first round. Huge match obviously, and the team implications are immense. Stieber beat Chakaev at BTS in 2012 and then in the waning seconds of an amazing bout at 2016 worlds on his way to gold. Entirely different circumstances surrounding this match, but these two know each other well. 2) Khasanov of UZB is a tough opponent. Not an automatic win by any means. He just beat Naashin Kuular who beat Logan handily at the Yarygin (and McKenna as well at U23). 3) Vladimir Khinchegashvili. Obviously not ideal as he beat logan up pretty bad last year, but this is a new weight with new rules. Anything can happen. 4) If he makes it to the semis, this could be the least daunting match of the day for him. Otoguro out of Japan is the favorite to make it out and he has a 10-5 win over Stieber at the World Cup, but Stieber took a huge knock to the head in the opening seconds of that match which I believe effected the outcome. 5) In terms of a finals opponent, Aliyev and Valdes Tobier meet in the opening round which isn't Taylor-HYC levels of stupid, but close. I think those are the top two guys at the weight. I think the winner of that one makes it to the semis, and then the winner of Gadzhiev/Bajrang makes it to the semis. Gadzhiev/Bajrang is an awesome potential matchup that you should all want to watch. Stieber gets a shit draw once again. 79kg: 1) dake gets a bye as the #4 seed. With Kurbanov and hasanov as the #2 and #3 and Gadzhi as the #1, the one guy you didn't want to draw was 3x world bronze Ali Shabanov of Belarus. He is on the opposite side. Perfect. 2) Likely Obst of Germany. Solid wrestler but that's an easy win for Dake. 3) Georgia, Turkey, or Ukraine. Doesn't matter, Dake is winning. 4) The big one. Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov, the Russian and undisputed #1 at the weight. Gadzhi dominated Dake in the gold medal match of the Yarygin. Never seen Dake beaten like that (the score was 8-2 but Dake never threatened). I think the key here is that Dake needs to A) work in some kind of threatening leg attacks which he hasn't really done against top level guys B) Threaten with his insane chest wrap, which he wasn't able to do against Gadzhi. You don't even have to score with it, just make Gadzhi feel your strength and make him think twice in that position 5) Shabanov and Hasanov meet in the quarters. I think whoever wins that one makes it through. 92kg: 1) Not what you want to see in a first round opponent. Cox gets Dato Marsagashvili in a matchup of 2x world/olympic bronzes. Marsagashvili has beaten Cox convincingly twice at two different World Cups. This is a loss imo, but not unwinnable. 2) Probably Ceban of MDA. I think he would win that one. 3) Tsakulov (RUS) gets the winner of Karimi (IRI) and Sharifov (AZE). I think thats AZE. Sharifov and Tsakulov is a QF that probably determines the world champion. Going with Tsakulov. 4) If he somehow makes it this far (he won't), Cox would get maybe Boke of TUR or Yankouski of BLR. Honestly the top half sucks. The top guys are all in the bottom half with Cox. Overall: Terrible draw for Stieber, Bad draw for Cox, Good draw for Dake, really good draw for Gilman
My predictions 57kg Gold-Erdenebat MGL Silver-Edisherashvili AZE (Gilman is the betting favorite because the threats here are Kang, Edisherashvili, and Gilman, and the former meet in rd1, but that changes once that winner is revealed.) Bronze-Takahashi JPN Bronze-Gilman USA (Could just as easily be silver) 65kg Gold-Aliyev AZE Silver-Khinchegashvili GEO (Even though, tbh, I think he slips up somewhere) Bronze-Valdes Tobier CUB Bronze-Chakaev RUS I'm extremely woke on Valdes Tobier of Cuba being one of the best in the world. He can beat anybody, especially Aliyev. Tempted to pick the upset. Same with Bajrang and Gadzhiev. I am picking the upset there. 79kg Gold-Gadzhimagomedov RUS Silver-Shabanov BLR Bronze-Dake USA Bronze-Hasanov AZE 92kg Gold-Tsakulov RUS Silver-Boke TUR Bronze-Sharifov AZE Bronze-Luvsandorj MGL
It becomes pretty easy, like with Georgia, pretty much every wresler's name ends with -shvili. Khinchegashvili, Khutsishvili, Aminashvili, Maragishvili, Petriashvili, The Russians have similar patterns in their names like the -dzh, -monov, -idov, etc. And like half the wrestlers in the field are Russian transplants. The names I have trouble with are usually Mongolians or Uzbeks. Those you just kinda remember after seeing them enough.
Edit: I don't know why time zones and notation bother me so much, but the time zones for that tweet should either be ET or EDT.
Man I enjoy watching Yazdani work, dude is relentless... let's not forget how fucking good he is when we remember DTs run. Gwiz in for Bronze later
Aliyev should maybe try to take his first shot before the last 10 seconds of the match, just a thought
Great scramble at the end by Valdies Tobier to knock off Aliyev 2-0, another defending champ goes down early