freestyle_fan

Thanks for sharing. Apart from the emotions aspect ran through out the video, i really liked the background music (song), nice song!

Adam Saitiev vs Yoel Romero - 2004 Olympics 85kg Gold Medal match Buvaisar Saitiev vs Brandon Slay 2000 Olympics ( Buvaisar Saitiev's only olympic loss) Adam Saitiev vs Dennis Tsargush 2012 Cael Sanderson vs Adam Saitiev togrul asgarov vs mohamaadian 2015

Few wrestlers come to my mind are - 1. Abdusalam Gadisov (RUS) 97kg - multiple world champion and but never won Olympic Gold. He lost to Reza Yazdani in 2012 and 2016 I think RUS sent Anzor Boltukaev as thier rep for 97kg. 2. Murad Gaidarov (orignally RUS represented BLR) 74/76kg - multiple european champions and 1 or 2 time world champ, but always (often controversial) left behind by his nemesis great Buvaisar Saitiev. He did win Sliver (originally bronze, later upgraded to Silver) in 2008 Olympics but never a gold. 3. On women's side - many were denied Olympic Gold by Japan, few i could think who missed Gold are : Maria Stadnik (AZE) , Sofia Mattson (SWE)

You are right, it’s KGZ not KAZ.

Now that all the continental Olympic Qualifier tournaments getting kicked in this month, I did quick stats on which all countries qualified for Olympics so far and how competitive these OG qualifiers going to be..i did quick chart, see below Interestingly - AZE only got one weight qualified (97kg) so far KAZ did pretty well so far with 4 weights qualified. Russia is the highest with 5 ( 125 kg yet to be qualified) Considering GEO, AZE, TUR not yet qualified many weights, European OG qualifiers going to be real interesting. US would probably qualify the remaining weights with Pan Am OG qualifier I heard Asian OG qualifier tournament moving from China to some other place, not identified yet. Initially KAZ came forward, later Govt of KAZ rejected it considering Coronavirus effect.

I pick Bekbulatov against Bajrang, Rashidov, Musukaev and even Otoguro. I think we will see Bekbulatov in Olympic gold medal match. I know, he has to qualify first and but i think he will get it done in European Olympic Qualifier event. As its talked about many times in this forum, Bekbulatov is the unlucky guy (so far) despite such a talent never made it to world championships or Olympics. He is going to change that with this olympics, watch out for him, I am rooting for Bekbulatov :-)

Signed it!

Very well written article on India’s performance. Highly critique about Bajrang! Interesting read.. https://www.newsclick.in/metal-over-mettle-indian-wrestling-story-asian-championships

Looks like Bazri lost to JPN in the 86kg finals

Otoguro defeated Bajrang 10-2 in 65kg final

Other notable thing from Asian Championships- In 57kg, Ravi (IND) defeated both Takahasi(JPN) and Sanayev convincingly..Ravi seems to be a a sure medal contender for Tokyo gold. Otoguro vs Bajarang match yet to happen as I type this!

Ilyas Bekbulatov ( Originally from RUS) took part in Asian Championships today representing UZB in 70kg. He easily made it to Gold medal match which is set to happen in the evening Indian time.

I think its going to be interesting...I am sure Gazi is going to explore all his options to get a wrestle-off with Sidakov. I think, he might win against Sidakov. My gut says Russia will send Sidakov anyway ( considering he beat both JB and Chamizo twice already), but its going to really interesting to see the whole drama with wrestle-off...lets see how it goes

Chamizo won gold by defeating Gazimagomedov in finals 5-3. It was a tough match, Gazi almost had the win if he could convert that step-out in the last seconds. Chamizo being Chamizo defended it well. later Chamizo made interesting comments (excerpt from UWW) After the award ceremony, Chamizo stated he believes that Gazimagomedov is a lot better than the man that beat him in last year’s world finals, Zaurbek Sidakov. “(Sidakov) is a cool guy, and he’s training good, but I think (Gazimagomedov) is much better than him,” Chamizo said. “Look, (Sidakov and I) wrestled in 2018, and my training was about 50%. I didn’t perform. It was the same thing in 2019. My knee and ankle weren’t good. Right now, I’m good. But, where is (Sidakov)?” UWW article also talked about Gazi should get a chance via wrestle-off with Sidakov for Tokyo seat As it sits now, Sidakov is the top choice to represent Russia at the Olympic Games. But, Gazimagomedov’s Yariguin win and European silver-medal finish further his case that he deserves at least a wrestle-off to show just how worthy of a competitor he is.

It's not a pin for sure. But, boy what an intense moment it was!