Olympic watch (2016 Rio news, qualifications, athletes)

[Narse]

thanks for letting me know!

http://www.fivb.com/en/about/news/lozano-announces-iran-olympic-squad?id=63423

where is farhad zarif?

[_Navid_]

No problem at all.

I was surprised too. It is a big risk taking only 1 Libro as he may get injured or something and then we are in trouble!!

[Keano]

So do you guys think overall we can top our 2012 decent Olympics standings? I have not been following our sports that closely in the recent years.

[Ab-Gosht]

the biggest unknown for iran is wrestling, where anything can happen. taekwondo (men) and weightlifting is fairly easy to predict..

[_Navid_]

So do you guys think overall we can top our 2012 decent Olympics standings? I have not been following our sports that closely in the recent years.

I doubt we can top the number of medals, but it is quite possible to top the number of gold medals and that will take us up in the rankings. As abgosht said it all depends on wrestling specially freestyle. I personally don't see more than 1 gold in wrestling and that belongs to Sourian.

[Narse]

wow just one likely gold in wrestling? but it seems these same guys are not as strong as 4 years ago. i view our taekwondo guys the strongest having a high chances to win gold medals. i think kianoush rostami can win gold in weightlifting as well. but i am also pessimistic about wrestling. i also think that ehsan haddadi has no chance to be anywhere near a medal this time! his good days seem to be over...
what about our judo guys?

[Keano]

I personally don't see more than 1 gold in wrestling and that belongs to Sourian.

Oh wow, do you really think we will only get one gold in both Greco-Roman and Freestyle? I thought we're doing decent in both? But again I have not recently been following up our sports closely, and could be wrong.

Thank you for the reply Navid jaan!

[Narse]

the greco-roman wrestling team we are sending it exactly the same of 2012! but i am not sure how strong rezaei and noroozi are right now. i rate rahimi in the freestyle wrestling higher than these 2 this time.

but then lets remember, we have bana as coach for greco-roman wrestling and he can do great things.

[_Navid_]

Oh wow, do you really think we will only get one gold in both Greco-Roman and Freestyle? I thought we're doing decent in both? But again I have not recently been following up our sports closely, and could be wrong.

Thank you for the reply Navid jaan!

I think so. If we look at the previous 3 world championships (not the world cup where teams send their B/C teams) we have bean quite poor gold medal wise. Last year specially we didn't get a single gold altogether. Olympic will be much harder specially with Russia coming very strong. We do have a few more wrestlers that I listed before who have the potential to get a gold but they must beat the guys who are better than them like Roman Vlasov, Jordan Boroughs, Gadisof, Rashidof, Lopez etc.
IMHO we will perform much better in Taekwondo and weightlifting where we regularly perform well in the world championships.

My pleasure Keanon jaan. I enjoy discussing Iranian sports with nice forumers like yourself.

[_Navid_]

wow just one likely gold in wrestling? but it seems these same guys are not as strong as 4 years ago. i view our taekwondo guys the strongest having a high chances to win gold medals. i think kianoush rostami can win gold in weightlifting as well. but i am also pessimistic about wrestling. i also think that ehsan haddadi has no chance to be anywhere near a medal this time! his good days seem to be over...
what about our judo guys?

They are not the same as 4 years ago. Omid Norouzi and Ghasem Rezaei and even Sourian and Yazdani are 30+ years old and may not cope against the youngsters. Abdevali is very good but he usually gets screwed up by the refs. I would consider Rahimi as the 2nd contender for a gold behind Sourian. But you are right. Let's hope Bana does a miracle like he did in 2012.

Haddadi has throws around 63 m these days. He needs to increase by 4m in the short time left to get a bronze or silver.

Judo hasn't got a medal chance. We do have a wonderkid in Judo who won gold in youth Olympics but he ended up washing the dishes in his father's restaurant. They didn't even bother sending him to these qualification tournaments. If they support him from now on, he will get a medal in 2020.

[Keano]

My pleasure Keanon jaan. I enjoy discussing Iranian sports with nice forumers like yourself.

Thank you so much and likewise it's always a great pleasure reading great members posts, and you're definitely one of them! [emoji1317][emoji106]


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[Ab-Gosht]

YES. in my opinion sourian is the best shot in wrestling and rahimi 2nd best. lets not forget though how much sourian has lost coming in to olympics so even he is not a big favorite. Reza yazdani is not 100% fit otherwise yes he would have good shot at gold. in greco omid nourozi and ghasem rezaei are not 100% like they used to be. hasan yazdani is obviously the future big star in iranian wrestling, for him this rio is 1-2 years to early. saeid abdevali bomb rohie is sick good but in this weight he's just a bit small and cant beat all of the bigger and stronger guys with his superior teqnique

[Irannn]

As someone who follows all of our athletes and also their rivals closely, I have to admit none of our wrestlers are #1 favorite for the gold in Rio. we have few chances for Gold but none of them are top favorite, here is what I think

57 Rahimi, very good chance for medal, he can beat anybody in the world, but he just sometmes chokes in important moments, still our best chance for gold in freestyle.
65 Nasiri, probably our weakest wrestler, still there is no clear favorite in this weight, it's not impossible for him to win a medal, gold is highly unlikely, almost impossible
74 Yazdani, the kid is good, very good, still it will be uphill task for him to beat Burroughs and Geduev, but he will medal unless he go the same bracket as both of these guys.
86 Karimi, gold is impossible because of Sadulaev, he most probably will win bronze or silver
97 Yazdani, a healthy Yazdani could be top favorite but we don't know about his situation now, still I give him chance for gold, he won 2013 world title despite his injury. but nothing is guaranteed.
125 Ghasemi, Gold is almost impossible because of Akgul, Makhov and Petriashvili, but he can medal with a good draw.

59 Sourian, he can beat anybody in a good day but he has to win his matches quickly, othrwise he will be in trouble, I believe he is still the best but beating 4-5 top guys in one day won't be easy for him.
66 Norouzi, he was great in Shiraz World Cup and gave us a bit hope about winning the gold, he can beat anybody but there are 5-6 wreslers who can beat him as well.
75 Abdevali, Bana is upset about him and apparently he is not in good shape. this is a tough weight, he will be lucky to medal here
85 Akhlaghi, I believe this guy has the best chance for gold in our Greco team, he can push anybody out of the mat, he just has to be careful, he lost in world championship by pin despite leading 7-0 !!!
98 Rezaei, he didn't shine at the world cup but Bana believes in him. there are only 2 wrestlers better than him here, Aleksanyan and Melnikov, I thnk he can win a medal but gold will be very hard because of this Armenian guy.
130 Babajaznadeh, no chance for gold at all, even a bronze medal is almost impossible

[ehsan singapore]

sourian if they can bring him to shape, he can go far, even at world last year, he last due to refree, he was poor at qualifiying , lost like 20 kg at one time, but the last qualiying he was strong, i believe in bana lets see how strong they can make him, and prepare him

[Narse]

As someone who follows all of our athletes and also their rivals closely, I have to admit none of our wrestlers are #1 favorite for the gold in Rio. we have few chances for Gold but none of them are top favorite, here is what I think
57 Rahimi, very good chance for medal, he can beat anybody in the world, but he just sometmes chokes in important moments, still our best chance for gold in freestyle.
65 Nasiri, probably our weakest wrestler, still there is no clear favorite in this weight, it's not impossible for him to win a medal, gold is highly unlikely, almost impossible
74 Yazdani, the kid is good, very good, still it will be uphill task for him to beat Burroughs and Geduev, but he will medal unless he go the same bracket as both of these guys.
86 Karimi, gold is impossible because of Sadulaev, he most probably will win bronze or silver
97 Yazdani, a healthy Yazdani could be top favorite but we don't know about his situation now, still I give him chance for gold, he won 2013 world title despite his injury. but nothing is guaranteed.
125 Ghasemi, Gold is almost impossible because of Akgul, Makhov and Petriashvili, but he can medal with a good draw.
59 Sourian, he can beat anybody in a good day but he has to win his matches quickly, othrwise he will be in trouble, I believe he is still the best but beating 4-5 top guys in one day won't be easy for him.
66 Norouzi, he was great in Shiraz World Cup and gave us a bit hope about winning the gold, he can beat anybody but there are 5-6 wreslers who can beat him as well.
75 Abdevali, Bana is upset about him and apparently he is not in good shape. this is a tough weight, he will be lucky to medal here
85 Akhlaghi, I believe this guy has the best chance for gold in our Greco team, he can push anybody out of the mat, he just has to be careful, he lost in world championship by pin despite leading 7-0 !!!
98 Rezaei, he didn't shine at the world cup but Bana believes in him. there are only 2 wrestlers better than him here, Aleksanyan and Melnikov, I thnk he can win a medal but gold will be very hard because of this Armenian guy.
130 Babajaznadeh, no chance for gold at all, even a bronze medal is almost impossible

Thank you so much for these great informations!! Could you please do the same thing for Taekwondo and Weightlifting?