Any info on Iran's olympic wrestling team?

[Makan]

The Olympics are around the corner and will be here in a few months or so. I don't keep up with these things unfortunately, and I was wondering if anyone here that is more in the know could give us some info on what names to look out for on Iran's wrestling team. Is there anyone special or anyone who looks to be a favorite to place for a medal?

[Sharkie]

I was going to open a similar thread on the 2012 London Olympics in general to see the progress of our Olympians. Does anyone have any information for those who are representing Iran in London?

[Shogun_Rua]

I'm might be wrong but I'm pretty sure these are the guys they will send to the olympics unless someone gets injured :

Freestyle team


55 kg) Hassan Rahimi - Nothing special, he won bronze in 2011 world championships but he isn't very good. Although he has been wrestling better lately, I think the best he will do is bronze.

60 kg) Masoud Esmailpour - Probably Iran's weakest weight class, I wouldn't expect anything from this guy, if he wins any medal it should be considered a great achievement.

66 kg) Mehdi Taghavi - If there is anyone for Iran who is a favourite for gold it's him. 2x world champion although he is really boring and hardly ever attacks which sometimes gets him into trouble. I think he definitely picks up a medal.

74 kg) Sadegh Goudarzi - Great wrestler, won silver in 2010 and 2011 world championships, I expect him to win a Bronze or Silver but if luck is on his side, he could win a gold.

84 kg) Ehsan Amini/ Ehsan Lashgari - I'm not sure who they are going to send out of these 2 but neither will be a favourite for gold. If think whoever they send has a good chance for a medal but this weight class is really unpredictable.

96 kg) Reza Yazdani - 2011 world champion but this is the toughest weight class in the world, it has like 6 competitors who on any day can win a gold. I hope he wins a medal and I will guess he wins bronze.

120 kg) Fardin Masoumi/Hadi Parviz/Reza Azarshakib - Like 84 kg, I'm not sure who they will send out of these 3 but none of them are good enough to win gold. I think whoever they send will get bronze or silver depending on who they get in the draw.




So I think if Iran wins gold it will probably be in either 66kg or 96kg weight class, probably a silver in 74kg and the other weight classes could get a bronze.

The Freestyle wrestling world cup is next week in Baku, so I will be able to judge some of our wrestlers performances and tell you more after that.

[Shogun_Rua]

Greco Team

55 kg) Hamid Sourian - 5x world champion although he took a break from wrestling for a while and since he came back he hasn't looked his old self. He has lost a few matches recently but he definitely has a chance for Gold.

60 kg) Omid Noroozi - 2011 World champion, great wrestler and definitely is one of the favourites for gold. I'm sure he will pick up a medal.

66 kg) Saeid Abdevali - 2011 World champion, I think he is the #1 favourite to win gold in this category and I'm sure he will.

74 kg) Iran didn't qualify this weight so they wont have anyone wrestling at the olympics.

84 kg) Habibollah Akhlaghi - 2009 world bronze medalist. Good wrestler, he should pick up a medal.

96 kg) Ghasem Rezaei - 2007 world bronze medalist. He is decent and he could pick up a medal but he is not the best we have. Iran has 2 guys in this weight class who are absolute beasts, Babak Ghorbani and Amir Ali-Akbari but they were both banned in 2011 for steroids. If either of those 2 were not banned, either of them would win gold, their ban is lifted in 2013.

120 kg) Bashir Babajanzadeh - 2011 world bronze medalist, he's a good wrestler and could pick up a medal but I wouldn't put any money on him.

I expect our Greco-Roman team to get more medals then our freestyle, Iran has the best Greco-Roman team in the world but they don't always perform like it. If everyone performs at their best then I think we will get 3 Golds in the 55,60 and 66kg weights and any medals in 84,96 and 120kg weights.

[Shogun_Rua]

There is also some good news for our wrestlers. In the olympics unlike the world championships, countries have to qualify their athletes, they can't just send them and Israel haven't qualified a single wrestler ! So this time they won't get in our way but they still have a chance to get a wildcard, FILA gives out 3 wildcard's to smaller countries in each weight. So let's hope Israel doesn't get one in any mens categories and our wrestlers can relax for once lol.

[Makan]

Thanks for all of the information Shogun Rua, it was very helpful!

[Paradigm]

I wonder if Iran would invest on swimming and track & field. Many medals are won by various countries in these simpler sports.

Disappointing finish in China 4 years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Su...cs_medal_table

[Soroush-IK]

http://vimeo.com/38016991

I'd really love to see the above documentary. Check the above link. Go Iran!

[EKBATAN]

http://vimeo.com/38016991

I'd really love to see the above documentary. Check the above link. Go Iran!

that looks awesome..i wish we could find it somewhere

[Camran khan]

^The documentary is not finished yet, it's still in post production.

Source: http://www.contraimage.com/projects/documentary.aspx