Turkey Olympic Qualifier: Day 1 (Greco) draw and discussion

[maligned 528]

Draws are coming in for Day 1:

 

59: Thielke needs a miracle.  This may be the toughest weight of all 18 from across all 3 styles this weekend and he didn't dodge the loaded-ness.  Hungary's olympic medalist first, Georgia's olympic medalist or the Indian who beat Thielke a couple weeks ago second, 2013 world champ from Bulgaria third...and the host Turkey in the semi's if he makes it that far.  Good luck, buddy.  We'll be pulling for you.

 

First Match: Mat A, Match #12 (roughly a little after 4:30am US eastern time)

 

66: Perkins needs 4 wins, but his draw seems somewhat possible.  His toughest match may be the first one against a very tough Chinese who only lost 4-2 to the Lithuanian that beat Ravaughn for 3rd two weeks ago 5-0.  Also, the semi's opponent could be the at-home Turk who got upset in Perkins' bracket 2 weeks ago or a Norwegian who got 3rd in the Euro qualifier but didn't participate in Mongolia.

 

First Match: Mat A, Match #2 (a little after 3am US eastern time)

 

98: Rau's bracket is crowded but not impossible, also.  He's very capable of winning his first two, with perhaps a Finn in the second round the toughest out.  He'd then see an Italian or Korean in the quarters that both performed quite well in Mongolia.  If he gets to the semi's, there's a good chance he'll see the Azerbaijani who has been their Olympic rep twice and who got third at the loaded Euro qualifier but took Mongolia off.

 

First Match: Mat C, Match #118 (15th match in line...roughly a little before 5am US eastern time)

Edited May 5, 2016 by maligned

[Coach_J 2,177]

Based on how he wrestled in Mongolia, I'd give Perkins the best shot of punching his ticket.  I'd pick Thielke in a rematch with the Indian, but it's a huge leap to think he'll even make it to that bout.  Rau--same chances as Thielke.  Overall, I think we'll be lucky to get one additional qualifier.  

[maligned 528]

Based on how he wrestled in Mongolia, I'd give Perkins the best shot of punching his ticket.  I'd pick Thielke in a rematch with the Indian, but it's a huge leap to think he'll even make it to that bout.  Rau--same chances as Thielke.  Overall, I think we'll be lucky to get one additional qualifier.  

Agreed, unfortunately.  Perkins and Rau have the quality of the Olympic field, but it becomes a numbers game with so many guys of similar level and needing 4 wins to get through.

 Whether he wins or not, I hope we see the Thielke of the OTTs tomorrow.  I think Mango only lost one time to someone who was non-Top 5 at worlds or Olympics in all his years representing us--and usually his losses were very tight battles.  And Thielke took it to him.  Then Hafizov was supposed to be  our new guy.  He was the real, real deal for Uzbekistan at the '12 olympics and had a couple very strong wins at internationals leading up to the OTTs.  And Thielke beat him twice.  Anyway, again, i hope the real Thielke please stands up.

Edited May 5, 2016 by maligned

[maligned 528]

Mat assignments and estimated match times are now added to the original post.  Match time estimates are based on match speeds at past similar tournaments (7.5 to 8 minutes per match on the fast end...9 to 9.5 minutes per match on the slow end)

[gutfirst 220]

link for the live stream?

[maligned 528]

unitedworldwrestling.org...it's the first big link at the top of the page to go to all the video and details of the tournament

[wrestfan 814]

the Turk here is not the same guy who lost in Mongolia, this Ozel guy is a former world medalist one wight up.

the Indian who beat Thielke is not here, they are sending another guy, A veteran Ravinder

the Korean guy at 98 is not the same who wrestled in Mongolia but a new guy

[maligned 528]

the Turk here is not the same guy who lost in Mongolia, this Ozel guy is a former world medalist one wight up.

the Indian who beat Thielke is not here, they are sending another guy, A veteran Ravinder

the Korean guy at 98 is not the same who wrestled in Mongolia but a new guy

Thanks...I only paid close attention that entries were the same for some cases

[Axe_Spartan 205]

I'm really looking forward to see Soryan and Chunayev.

[gutfirst 220]

dance boy was neck and neck with vlasov as the most exciting wrestler at the worlds last year.

[DuckFor2 216]

unreal how many "wrestling" countries haven't qualified weights, makes you wonder who actually HAS qualified.

 

Thielke has a brutal draw containing past World and Olympic medalists? that's tough. Same with Rau, tough bracket.

Perkins should qualify.

[mspart 270]

unreal how many "wrestling" countries haven't qualified weights, makes you wonder who actually HAS qualified.

 

Thielke has a brutal draw containing past World and Olympic medalists? that's tough. Same with Rau, tough bracket.

Perkins should qualify.

 

Unless of course they will be this year's Olympic medallists.  Then not such a tough draw.  Hopefully they are successful!

 

mspart

[repechange 184]

We may be stuck hoping for some wildcards.

[IronChef 1,073]

I don't think the US is eligible for any wildcards

[Jaroslav Hasek 2,047]

no wildcards for the USA. they are reserved for small countries that dont send many people to the olympics otherwise. below is the list of countries that are eligible for wildcards.

[repechange 184]

This is why the Olympics and international wrestling is such a joke.

[quanon 161]

no wildcards for the USA. they are reserved for small countries that dont send many people to the olympics otherwise. below is the list of countries that are eligible for wildcards.

How does this work? One wildcard per weight?

[Jaroslav Hasek 2,047]

How does this work? One wildcard per weight?

the rules are a little vague and i didn't read that closely but there are 8 wildcards total, to be distributed however the committee wants. they'll probably factor both competitiveness and rarity of Olympic competitors for that country. 

 

4 of those wildcards were reserved for Brazil but they earned more than that through normal qualifications so those 4 went back into the wildcard pool with 4 others. 

 

also that list of countries is for all individual sports which all have their own wildcard allotments. not sure if its separate committes for each sport or just 1 big one.

 

I don't blame the Olympics for the wonky nature of the qualifications. wrestling can host all the tournaments it wants using whatever qualification and competitive system it wants. but if wrestling wants to be part of the Olympic games it needs to play by their rules and help them fulfill the IOC's goals.

 

the ultimate goal for wrestling should not be, make the IOC be for friendly to wrestling, it should be, make the sport better and more popular so the IOC will want to accommodate wrestling. you don't see tennis making any changes and altering their sport to fit around the Olympics.  

[NYWRESTLER94 221]

Perkins down 0-2 going into the 2nd

[NYWRESTLER94 221]

Perkins comes back to win 11-2

Edited May 6, 2016 by NYWRESTLER94

[maligned 528]

Wow...down 2-0 late, he guts the Asian champ 5 times to advance.  He'll have a couple more tough matches of course out of the 3 wins he needs, but that may have been the toughest guy in his bracket.

[TripNSweep 740]

He should beat the Greek.  He's got the winner of Ukraine and Kyrgzstan in the quarters if he wins here.  He gets to the semis he's got Turkey probably. 

[TripNSweep 740]

Thielke up right now on Mat A.

[TripNSweep 740]

I think I got the colors wrong.  Did Modos win or Thielke?

Edited May 6, 2016 by TripNSweep

[NYWRESTLER94 221]

He gets the tech 8-0!!!