The Croatia (Zagreb) Open Ranking Series Tournament

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Max Dean having issues with Bulgaria, down 0-4 at break. Make that 0-6 with 2:40 to go. Now 3-8 with 1:22 left. That's how it ends. 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Iran's having a really good tournament. 

Sebastian Rivera at 65 kg wrestling for Puerto Rico has a strong Bulgarian who he has to beat to get to the quarters. Bulgaria leads 1-0 at the break. I always thought that Sebastian should be the name of a butler or a diplomat and not a wrestler. Looks like I was wrong. Rivera goes up 3-1 with a takedown and shot clock. Rivera wins 3-1 and into the quarters.

McKenna up 1-0 against an Azeri to start his match. He's now up 3-0 at the break. 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

McKenna is your 11-0 winner. He's jacked. Tech falls an Azerbaijani. Goes into the quarters. 

Another Finesilver out there. The 65 kg one.  

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Nolf (not my favorite wrestler) down 0-2 to the Bulgarian Ramazanov. He evens it up 2-2 at the break. 

How did Mrs. Finesilver manage to make sure all her kids were at different weight classes? Lots of foresight and management, I suspect. Finesilver (65 kg) is into the quarters, your winner by a 5-4 score over Switzerland. The wrestler from Switzerland has become an instant national hero for being the first Swiss to get to an 1/8 final in an international wrestling tournament. 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Nolf (not my favorite wrestler) gets the 12-2 tech over Bulgaria and is into the quarters. 

[Dark Energy]

Thank you @ILLINIWrestlingBlog!!  Doing a great service!!

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Representing the IRTC and Mongolia, Bekhbayer Erdenbat gets the 11-4 win over Joey Silva of Puerto Rico. That pushes him into the semifinals at 61 kg. He's been working with Zane at the training center. 

[nhs67]

So Marstellar, our #1 at 79 KG beat the 2023 92 KG Silver medalist 3-1 at 86 KG.

That should tell you something about Marsteller for those who have been doubting him.

https://uww.org/athletes/nurmagomedov-osman

Edited January 10 by nhs67

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Zane Richards got trashed by the Aman Aman of India, the U23 champion from last year 11-0. It wasn't a lot of turns, it was a lot of takedowns. I expect Zane to be pulled back in, as Aman is the quality in the lower half of the bracket, but that was a match he's going to want to review with Coach Medlin. He was in a seat belt whizzer position about 5 times, and most of the time, Aman used his length to step over and score. 

[nhs67]

86 KG Finesilver just beat 'fellow' countryman Uri Kalashnikov via 3-0 Decision to advance to the Semi-Finals against what is likely going to be Dauletbekov of Kazahkstan.  This will pull him in to the Bronze match of repechage.

Dauletbekov eliminated Valencia by defeating Ukraine's Babii via 11-0 Tech (in 1M9S) the round after Babii defeated Valencia via 10-2 Decision.

Curious if this is what will be used to determine the 86 KG Olympic rep.  Israel has no 97 KG rep entered here, so I am curious if Kalashnikov will attempt to go up to earn that spot for them.

 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

2 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Nolf beat a guy from Venezuela with a mullet. If you can appropriate any American hairstyle, why choose the mullet? Final score 10-0, there's a challenge, but that looked like a four point chest wrap throw to me. Almost a Dake bomb? 

 

USA 2, Venezuela 0

Soccer errr "futbol"

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Quincy Monday lost a super chippy match against Azerbaijan in the quarters, 4-5. Azerbaijan, along with Iran, are having a great tournament. 

[nhs67]

Chance Marsteller just beat last years 2023 79 KG Silver medalist Gamkrelidze from Georgia via Decision 8-5.

And there are those who still believe he doesn't deserve his #4 ranking at 79 KG...

[nhs67]

Just now, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Quincy Monday lost a super chippy match against Azerbaijan in the quarters, 4-5. Azerbaijan, along with Iran, are having a great tournament. 

That match was chippy because the gent from Azerbiajan legitimately ran the last 37 seconds and should have been called for it.

I am surprised he wasn't being that this is an International event overseas... they tend to call that.

[nhs67]

A wrestle off of two gentlemen from Iran is happening now on Mat B.

I imagine the winner faces Little Yaz for the right to represent them.

Or the loser does and then if Little Yaz wins that match he faces the winner.

Iran is weird.

[nhs67]

Nolf up in three on Mat A.
Marstellar up in five on Mat A.
Zapf up in nine on Mat A.

Matt Finesilver up in three on Mat B.

McKenna - Tevanyan up next on Mat C.
Rivera - Josh Finesilver up in two on Mat C.

[nhs67]

The gentleman from Bulgaria who beat Dean is on Mat A right now.  If he wins he faces Marsteller.

[nhs67]

McKenna is getting dominated.

[nhs67]

Down 4-0 at the break and has no real answer for Tevanyan's tenacity.

[nhs67]

Tevanyan comes out considerably more pensive to start the second (he is up 4-0 so why not?).

McKenna a lot of feints... shot from way out... stuffed.  No effort from Tevanyan to re-attack or go behind.

2M remaining... McKenna called for action.

Single attempt by McKenna... another stuff.  Same story... not attempt to re-attack or go behind.  Tevanyan is saving his energy for a McKenna sprint.

As I type that, Tevanyan hits a quick sweep, pushes McKenna out.  1M23S left and McKenna down 5-0.

[nhs67]

30S to go... Tevanyan isn't wrestling at this point.  He did enough in the first to win this.

McKenna trying a sprint... 20S to go.  He needs something big.

1 for McKenna via Pushout... should have been C1, but oh well.

Another with 3S left.

Tevanyan wins 5-2.  He won it in the first.

[nhs67]

Of note, McKenna looks more muscular than we are used to seeing, I think.  Looks solid.

[nhs67]

Bulgaria gentleman wins to keep Dean alive.  He'll face Marsteller in a few matches on Mat A.  If Marsteller wins, Dean is eliminated.  If Bulgaria beats Marsteller, then we might see Dean-Marsteller for Bronze (providing that Dean can navigate Repechage).

Nolf up on Mat A.

[nhs67]

Rivera - Finesilver on Mat C right now.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

McKenna is jacked and doesn't look dehydrated, but his Armenian opponent, Tevanyan, has the 4-0 lead at the break. Tevanyan looks even bigger, and he's the 5-2 winner. 

 

Speaking of Mrs. Finesilver and her wide shot pattern, this is how I'd rank the wrestling mothers on that score:

1. Mrs. Mattin. It's like she gave birth to 7 identical twins but all were born in different years. She had the tightest shot pattern.

2. Mrs. Amine. I think the major differences in her brood is based on weight training. Still, not as tight a shot pattern as Mrs. Mattin. 

3. Mrs. Braunagel. She has a tighter shot pattern than it seems, as young Joey is wrestling 197 for the ILLINI, but he's pretty close to the size of Zac, and Danny is right there if he wasn't cutting weight all the time. They had an older brother who was smaller, and that's why she's here in the rankings. 

4. Mrs. Finesilver. She was all over the place. The Finesilver children could be Russian nesting dolls.