maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) FYI, the first day of the last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey is going on today. All 3 of our Greco-Roman entries won their first round matches and Ravaughn Perkins at 145 pounds is in the quarterfinals. They all need to reach the final to qualify for the Olympics. Here's the stream: https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/2nd-og-world-qualifying-tournament Jesse Thielke (59kg) is next up in the round of 16 on Mat A against Georgia at about 6:15am (he took out a two-time world medalist in his last match and the Georgian he'll face was an Olympic bronze medalist in 2012...not an easy draw at all but he looked incredible in his first match) Josef Rau (98kg) will also be on Mat A in the round of 16 against Honduras at 6:45 or 7am Perkins (66kg), who came one match from qualifying this weight in Mongolia 2 weeks ago, faces Kyrgyzstan on Mat C in the quarterfinals at about 7:30 (Our last two unqualified weights in ladies' freestyle wrestle tomorrow and Frank Molinaro attempts to qualify freestyle 143 pounds for us on Sunday) Edited May 8, 2016 by maligned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Thielke has another monster performance and Joe Rau gets put out by the Honduran who he had beaten easily at the Pan Am qualifying event a couple months ago. Perkins' quarterfinal is now looking like 7:45 or 8am on Mat C. Thielke's quarterfinal just after that at about 8am on Mat A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Perkins gets beat in a match he was a clear favorite. Bummer...down to Thielke today. He's on deck on Mat A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwoodjc89 Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 pretty exciting end of Thielke's match! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Wow!! ...all of his matches have been unbelievable today. He's a gunslinger for sure. He's now taken down two past Olympic medalists and the third win over the Swede just now comes over a guy who knocked off a former world champ earlier in the day. One to go! His semi will be on Mat B at roughly 9:30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grecoref Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Par Terre defense continues to haunt us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Par Terre defense continues to haunt us. Ironically, Perkins' strength in Mongolia was his defense and then he's the one to get launched from par terre by probably a lesser opponent. That one gets me much more than the Rau loss. With the way Rau wrestled all of his matches in Mongolia and today, I wouldn't have expected him to advance even if he'd beaten Mejia. Thielke is super slick on his feet, but he's been easy to turn the couple times he's been put down; you're right. I hope he can keep launching people and it won't matter. Thankfully, the Turk I thought he'd face in the semi's just got upset by a Moldovan, 4-4, so the raucous hometown disadvantage won't be there. Islamov, the Moldovan, got the bronze at Euro's this year and is a former university world champ. He got put out by the Russian in the blind draw system in the Euro qualifier and then he sat out Mongolia in favor of their #2, so that's why they haven't qualified the weight yet. It will be a war, for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grecoref Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Apparently there are more entries and countries competing this weekend than were in Mongolia. I would suspect due to travel costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) I think it's partially the cost and partially that Mongolia came so quickly after the Euro qualifier--the zone where the glut of the participating nations comes from. A number of them sat out some or all of the weights in Mongolia with the one-week turnaround time (really only like 3 days turnaround time if you plan to send all 3 styles as a single delegation and arrive a day or two early). Big disadvantage for them. Match by match turnover has slowed some...starting to look like 9:45 or 10 for Thielke's "Olympics or bust" match. Edited May 6, 2016 by maligned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grecoref Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Re: Moving slowly-the referees who are there that I have been communicating with are saying they wish they had 4th mat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 The Kyrgyz that beat Perkins just took out a Moldovan to advance to the Olympics in 46 seconds...super, super disappointing for Perkins, whose common opponent scores from the past few weeks all suggest he's better than the Kyrgyz, but he couldn't get it done in the 4-3 loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Several techs in a row. Thielke's big match is in the hole now. Probably coming a little before the 9:45 estimate I last made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Thielke qualifies in a fun match, it was 9-8 after one period then he goes on to win 17-8! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Roars back from down 8-3...what a fun guy to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grecoref Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 If Theilke would have reached and stepped into the arm throw one more time my computer was going out the window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grecoref Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Theilke now faces Soryan from Iran. Many consider him one of the best GR wrestlers of all time. For what it's worth, I think so too. Soryan was embarrassed in Mongolia. He was gassed so badly in the 2nd period it was painful to watch. I refereed Soryan's 1st senior World Championship in 2005 when he was only 20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Professor Morgan Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 I was glad to see him make the adjustment. He kept begging to get thrown and the Moldovian was more than willing to do so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Apparently there are more entries and countries competing this weekend than were in Mongolia. I would suspect due to travel costs. I believe I read somewhere that some countries may have not sent representatives to the first qualifier due to the date proximity it had to the European Championship event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogoplata89 Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Par Terre defense continues to haunt us. Not in Indiana it doesn't, we wrestle folkstyle. Take that Iran! grecoref 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Two new shirts coming to our store TheNextDynasty, Caleb Spires, J.G. and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 7, 2016 Author Share Posted May 7, 2016 Kelsey Campbell and Tamyra Mensah are trying to qualify our last 2 women's weights this morning in Turkey. As with the Greco men yesterday, they must advance to the championship match (top 2, no true 2nd) to go to the Olympics. Both are into the quarterfinals, with Mensah having won once and Campbell twice Mensah is Match 235 on Mat B at about 6:05 or 6:10am. She'll wrestle a Ukrainian who finished as joint Bronze with Tamyra in Mongolia a couple weeks ago. They're the two highest placers from that tournament and are probably the two favorites today. If she wins, she'll theoretically have a slightly easier opponent in the "Olympics or bust" semi-final round. Campbell is Match 201 on Mat A at about 6:30am. She faces a Russian who lost by one point in the Go round in Mongolia. She could be Campbell's toughest foe also--but she's not the slight favorite like Mensah for either of her last two. She will have to wrestle better than she has so far this morning to get it done, I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 7, 2016 Author Share Posted May 7, 2016 (edited) Yikes...Mensah crushes the Ukrainian 6-0 for a minute and a half then gets put in a headlock in a scramble and ends up pinned. Tough way to go out. She'll learn from this for sure (I think she's 20 or 21), but it's shocking we couldn't qualify this weight with how close we came at several events. Big disappointment. Edited May 7, 2016 by maligned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 7, 2016 Author Share Posted May 7, 2016 Campbell's lack of offense catches up to her. Down 2-0 entering the 2nd period, attempts one sort-of knee slapper half shot the entire period and falls 4-1. It's the same dilemma Molinaro could face if he gets behind tomorrow. Great defense is fantastic, but you're eventually going to be behind from time to time and need some offense to beat world-level people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Frank Molinaro faces the same needed advancement as our ladies and our Greco practitioners: get to the finals (top 2, no true 2nd) So far, he has won 2 heart-stoppers: 3-2 over Armenia's 2013 world champ Safaryan, and a 7-6 come-from-behind win over Japan He'll next wrestle in the quarterfinals against Boris Novachkov, who competes for Bulgaria, but who many will remember as an NCAA All-American for Cal Poly. That quarterfinal should be at about 8:40am on Mat C (Match 460) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maligned Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Molinaro falls 5-2 to Novachkov. All told, we qualify 5 of 6 men's freestyle weights, 4 of 6 Greco and 4 of 6 women's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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