Originally Posted by Snackem

Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't sure if it was a stance that the wrestlers took or that the government took.

As for the two Iranians that will end up withdrawing what is their track record with international competitions? Are they serious medal contenders?

don't even doubt it, these wrestlers are crying right now. of course they will say this is their own decision but Obviously, no one believes this.

well, Iran won both golds in these 2 category last year, (55kg by Sourian and 96kg by AliAkbari) . to be honest I don't think Hajipour in 55kg could win medal. He is new. but months ago he beat Olympic champion in World Cup , so he had a chance. at least for Olympic quota.
but Ghasem Rezaei in 96kg had a very good draw, only Totrov was in his way to the final. I think at least the Bronze was in his pocket. He is a former world bronze medalist and 2 time Asian Champion.

Originally Posted by JensenS

For whatever reason as I was typing the initial post up it didn't even register to me that the Iranian's were bracketed against Israelis.

yes I know, but This is the first thing I check every time I see the bracket.

I hope our friend Akzent can help us about live steam (TRT3 maybe ??) but about the time, 13:30 Turkish time = 11:30 UK time

TRT 3 will show only the medal matches, 19:30 Istanbul. Today they will show also the opening ceremony, 18:30.

At the recent junior and cadet worlds, Fila uploaded the video immediately after each match (unlike at previous championships where they needed hours or even a day to do this.)

Originally Posted by akzent

TRT 3 will show only the medal matches, 19:30 Istanbul. Today they will show also the opening ceremony, 18:30.

ahh ! no good !

anyhow, Vachadze lost in first round !

Wow, what a terrible start for my fantasy team.

Lester wins the first one.

Rematch of the Olympic finals- Belagliev vs Guenot. Belagliev wins this time, setting up a match vs Lester. Belagliev beat him at worlds a few years ago, but Lester is very capable of winning.

The Swede beats Ruiz, like he did in last year's bronze medal match at 96 kg.

Former world champion Kiss loses to the Turk at 96. Just like every year Greco is turning into a huge crapshoot.

Originally Posted by akzent

TRT 3 will show only the medal matches, 19:30 Istanbul. Today they will show also the opening ceremony, 18:30.

TRT3 stopped broadcasting the finals, because the opening ceremony is tooooooooo long ! and started very late.

Finals were supposed to start 1 hour and half ago !!! fantastic programming by FILA ! and still we have some remaining matches in Repechage.

good job by Azerbaijan, they bought another wrestler. Masoud Hashemzadeh now Mesut Hasimzade !!! will wrestle for Azerbaijan tomorrow !

Originally Posted by jimbo

good job by Azerbaijan, they bought another wrestler. Masoud Hashemzadeh now Mesut Hasimzade !!! will wrestle for Azerbaijan tomorrow !

Azeris building strong team. Also my friends say that Masoud has Azeri origin and thats one of the reasons he moved to Azerbaijan National Team.

Azerbaijan takes the gold at 55kg, got the only points in the 1st when his opponent from Belarus grabbed his foot from the bottom in par terre. Never seen that before...