It’s been a weird weight, weak overall for an Olympic weight but two of the absolute best of all time at the top.
Trotsky Tchaikovsky Sharipova Kournikova idk I’m actually having a harder time with one ending in a v! And I’ll give you “in” but all of these are straight v
Draws are out… and they are brutal for Richards and Nick Lee, both are going to have to beat absolute hammers to even have a shot at qualifying the weights for the Olympics. Dake drawn on the same side as Khadimagomedov but opposite Sidakov. Snyder would see Sadulaev in the semis
Instant bracket reactions 57-74kg 57kg: Worst possible draw for Team USA. First, he gets drawn into 2022 world champ Abakarov's quad who is easily the strongest of the seeded wrestlers, but he has to beat Rzazade to even get to Abakarov in the quarters (which he probably won't, tbh). But even if he does make it past Rzazade, it doesn't matter unless he wins against IRI in rd 2 and then again against Abakarov in the QF, because Uguev is on the same half of the bracket. So if Uguev wins the Semifinal over anyone that isn't Zane Richards, USA is out and has work to do to qualify the weight for Paris. Rough. 61kg: Is it the worst possible draw? No, Uguev is on the other half of the bracket. But outside of that, it's about as tough as possible. Vito has to go through KAZ in rd 1 which is a tough match but Vito should be a favorite, then he has a relatively easy match rd 2, but then returning silver Rezi Atri of IRI in the QF, and Uulu of KGZ in the SF. If Uguev is the best guy in the weight (and he is), Atri and Uulu are #2 and #3. The match with Atri will be very close, imo. Something to keep an eye on is that Japan wrestles Israel round 1 and the winner gets Atri. If somehow Israel makes it past Japan (thinking maybe injury or forfeit are most likely paths here) Iran will be forced to forfeit out of the tournament. 65kg: This is a really tough bracket so you didn't expect a good draw. However there is a definite half of hell and an "easy" half. Considering Nick Lee is in he "half of hell" portion of the bracket, he didn't get the worst possible draw. Good chance Lee wins his first three matches, which would put him on a collision course with Champ Amouzad of IRI in the QF. That's bad. Making matters worse is that Otoguro JPN, Mamedov RUS, and Musukaev HUN are all in the quadrant directly below, so even qualifying the weight will be a tall task. Bottom half of the bracket is relatively easy with Aliyev and Tumur-Ochir the biggest names there. 70kg: Average draw for Zain. Mamedov RUS was drawn into his bracket, but little Yazdani IRI was not. Zain gets a bye in R1, R2 he should beat TJK. In the QF he gets the Ukrainian that just beat McKenna in the finals a few months back. That will be a tough match but certainly winnable. SF he will likely get Mamedov of RUS. 74kg: We knew coming in that Dake was going to be on the same side as Salkazanov, who is the probably the #4 guy at the weight, but the big question was where Sidakov RUS and Kadimagomedov BLR were going to be dropped into the bracket considering they are technically unseeded as they are part of the AIN crew coming from Russia and Belarus. Good news: Sidakov is on the opposite bracket. Bad news: Kadimagomedov is not. Kadi famously teched Dake at the olympics. Dake gets Evloev of TJK in his first match, which is not easy by any means, but he should win considering he's Kyle fucking Dake. Next is Kaiponov of KAZ which is another W. Good chance he sees Chamizo in the QF, whom he owns a 2-0 record against. Salkazanov and Kadi will almost certainly meet in the QF on his bracket as they face very little resistance. And Sidakov should make the final again.
79kg: Knew coming in Chance was on a collision course with Nokodhi in semis, but big question was where Russia was gonna be drawn in. And the answer is into Nokodhi's quad. Think Chance makes it to the semis, where he will have the winner of Russia and IRI. Whoever wins that semi will be a big favorite in the finals. 86kg: Taylor and YtG are on opposites sides of bracket due to seeding. Bagaev of RUS was drawn into Taylor's half. Taylor likely beats Bagaev in the semis to set up 2023's rendition of the best rivalry in wrestling. 92kg: It's a bad draw. All the big names are on Zahid's half of the bracket. Zahid's first match is likely to be IRI, then AZE, then if he makes it, RUS in the semis. I literally recognize like 2-3 names on the other half and none are studs, with Akturk of TUR being the strongest. Zahid lost to the iranian in the first round in budapest a few months back, so this is a shot at redemption. 97kg: Sadulaev was drawn into Snyder's bracket randomly. Brutal. But that is a problem that awaits in the semis. In the quarters he faces his first big test. A lot of people (incorrectly, imo) guessing Ibragimov of UZB awaits. Tazhudinov, a 20 year old Russian transfer wrestling for Bahrain is going to be the guy imo. He gets Ibragimov in the first, and he just beat him soundly recently. He's good. Snyder-Sadulaev winner probably beats GEO-AZE winner in the finals. 125kg: So we knew there were gonna be two sides beforehand. The Zare-Akgul side, and the Petriashvili-Munktuhr (MGL) side. You wanted Parris drawn into the Petriashvili-Munktuhr side, and specifically in Munktuhr's quad, and that's exactly what he got. So it's the best possible draw for Mason. He gets KAZ first round, which should be a tough match, but Mason can certainly win it and maybe even the favorite there Likely beats Conyedo R2. Munktuhr QF will be a tough one, but winnable. Munktuhr beat Geno in the semis last year. If he wins that match, MP gets Geno in the semis. And then the Akgul-Zare winner awaits in the finals. Just imagine if we got Gable! We could have seen all of the big 4 in the semis.
Vito looked sharp in his first match, Parris absolutely smashed the Kazakh, who’s no slouch. Deng upset Munkthur so Deng is his likely QF opponent, a medal at the least looking very possible. Zherbaev from “Russia” was taken out by the Japanese wrestler at 70, opening up Zains draw, in theory
Vito looks dominant, Atri from Iran lost to the Japanese wrestler at 61(not familiar with him) so that’s Vito’s QF opponent. Should make the semis against Uluu from Kyrgyzstan
The Russian at 86, Bagaev, got cradled and pinned by Dauletbakov. They lost 3/4 before the quarters today, not exactly off to a hot start under Gatsalov
USA has 4/4 in the semis. Everyone looking good. Russia loses 3 matches, only Abasghazi makes the semis. Iran eliminated at 61 kg where they were expected to medal. If USA wins 86 and 125 semis, Russia is eliminated from medal contention at those weights. Looks good so far.
Semis started way earlier than originally listed… Vito smokes Uluu 12-2, that’s a bad man, may just have something for Magomedov
Ho-Hum, more domination from DT and Yaz, 4th straight final matchup for them. Baby Yaz vs Zain at 70kg should be good too
Had to be a little cathartic for Geno to get past a young American by being stronger at the end of the match
I missed the semis because Flo listed the time as 1 PM instead of 11 AM on their schedule. Thanks again, flo! Truly the best company out there.
I would have too if I didn’t follow the official UWW social media folks, who put out the correct time like professionals
I mean, Kentchadze lost to Sidakov, so one of those names is not like the others. I think the young Greek that took out Kadi was a world age group champ or close to it, definitely a potential world medalist but damn
Chance Marsteller appears to have bitten his Algerian opponent… pretty weird situation going on. Seems like he got away with it though
Zahid looked dead and buried down 9-4 after 1 to Azarpira, but wins it 9-4… and the Russian, Valiev, on his side lost to the young Japanese kid. Good shot at a medal or a win there now
Hope this is the first and only world team for Marsteller and Richards, both looked woefully short of the level needed in losing to middle of the road Azeri wrestlers. 57 getting qualified for the Olympics could be rough if Gilman isn’t back at his best
Micic into the finals after beating Abakarov as well, what a run. If he manages the upset over Higuchi that’s an all time run. And we finally get Sidakov-Dake, though Dake hasn’t looked his best. The Greek kid that beat Kadi and Salzkanzanov gave him a run
the narrative on flo re: micic and transfers is going to be unbearable if micic somehow betas higuchi
@1 I Don’t know if it still works but you used to be able to vpn as Switzerland and stream for free on the uww website. Sorry I just remembered this now.
I guess it’s no longer free but it’s probably better than subscribing to flo. You have to vpn as not usa.
Vito-Abasgadzhi about to start. I think Abasgadzhi is one of the best in the world and wins but...what if he doesnt
5-2 Vito after he takes the Russian over with two chest wraps, Russia challenges. It's either going to be 6-2 or 3-2 imo.
I didn't get to see a replay on the first challenge, but the second one didn't look bad to me. In the end i think the scoring result was as it should have been, with Vito up 2. (Although that was a very light caution and 1 at the end, Russian should have to do more to get that 1 imo)
I think it could have gone either way depending on who's looking at it. At 7-6 I think it's maybe OK for USA to challenge, but if the score was 2-1 or 4-3 I definitely would not have challenged up by 1. Personally, I like the offensive wrestler being rewarded there and that was the Russian.