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'25 U20 World Championships, 8/17-24

Tom McAndrew

Tom McAndrew

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Next up on the international schedule are the 2025 U20 World Championships. They are taking place in Samokov, Bulgaria, on August 17-24.

Please use this thread for all pre-tournament, in-tournament, and post-tournament discussion.

I don't generally start these threads until USA Wrestling writes an article about the team for the upcoming event. For whatever reason(s), they were pretty slow about getting to that for this championship. In the interim, @zzs006 started a great "2025 U20 Worlds breakdown and predictions." Feel free to continue discussing his analysis at the various weight classes, and debating his predictions, in that thread. But when the tournament starts, please put the discussion about matches in this thread.

www.on3.com

2025 U20 Worlds breakdown and predictions - Forums

Here is my annual U20 breakdown. I’ve done this for the last 3 years on the other site and it got good reactions so I figured I should continue it here. This my favorite tournament of the year because of the super high level of competition and being exposed to the next group of guys who will...
www.on3.com www.on3.com
 
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Tom McAndrew

Tom McAndrew

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The MFS schedule is pretty good.

Sunday, 8/17:
- Qualification Rounds, 70, 74, 97, 125
- Semifinals, 70, 74, 97, 125

Monday, 8/18
- Qualification Rounds, 57, 65, 79, 92
- Repechage, 70, 74,97, 125
- Semifinals, 57, 65, 79, 92
- Medal Matches, 70, 74, 74, 97, 125

Tuesday, 8/19
- Qualification Rounds, 61, 86
- Repechage, 57, 65, 79, 92
- Semifinals, 61, 86
- Medal Matches, 57, 65, 79, 92

Wednesday, 8/20
- Repechage, 61, 86
- Medal Matches, 61, 86

Alas, the timing of the events isn't great. Samokov, Bulgaria is 7 hours ahead of EDT. So the events lived above as the first on each day will take place at 3 am EDT.
 
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GregPickel

GregPickel

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I hate that USA Wrestling always puts the schedule in local time in its press releases so I always convert it. First action is at 3 a.m. ET Sunday with semis at 11 am ET. The sessions follow those same times all week.
 
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Psalm 1 guy

Psalm 1 guy

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Tom McAndrew said:
I could have put this in the Social Media thread. But for those chomping at the bit for the '25 U20 Worlds to start, he's a look at every PJ Duke match at the 2024 U20 Worlds.

Click to expand...

That semi against Baitukaev was really frustrating. The feigned knee injury, repeatedly slow to get back to center, the fortuitous bloody nose, etc. On the other hand, he was very efficient at finishing his shots, converting three attempts for five points. I think if PJ had not tried to force things so much when he was trailing 3-2 he would have been able to tire Baitukaev even more and would have got the winning TD late. PJ probably relied too much on the seatbelt position also. Baitukaev was very good at defending from that position.
 
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wrestlingfan22

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Going to do a bracket breakdown/predictions for Team USA:

57kg: Knox should have a very winnable match 1, can't find anything on his UKR opponent. His round 2 match will be TOUGH- Aitanov from KAZ has been to U17 world's twice and performed well both times, unless Knox looks much better than he did at WTT I would have him as the dog in this one.

If he gets through that/in order to get pulled back in repechage he/Aitanov would have to beat either GEO's Zangaladze, ARM's Harutyunuan or MAR's Tarik to make the semis. This would be another tough match against 3 very game guys. Tarik is a tier below the other's but has competed at Senior World's and in Olympic qualifiers before and has a past win over Aitanov to take a U17 Bronze.

The most likely semi-opponnet will be RUS or IRI but whoever makes it out of Knox's quadrant will likely be the favorite in the semi based on the continental results of RUS and IRI.

On the other side the two biggest favorites, Sakamoto and Baghirov will hit in QT's with the bottom right Quadrant being WEAK; whoever wins that QT should have an easy path to the final.

My Predictions based on Draw:
Final: Baghirov over Aitanov
Semis: Aitanov over Ozdamirov, Baghirov over Bulgaru
Bronze: Zangaladze over Ozdamirov, Sakamoto over Bulgaru

USA RESULT: KNOX DNP

I think Knox is very good and would not be shocked if he made the finals, but as the draw stands I think he ends up in 7th place, losing to Aitanov on the front and Zangaladze in repechage
 
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wrestlingfan22

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61kg:
Blaze has Switzerland rd.1 who isn't horrible and took 5th at U20 Euro's but I would still expect him to cruise through to a win.
In his next match he will have Euro Champ Begoyan who is very good, but I would favor Blaze in a tougher matchup. His most likely QT will be Tokotomatov from KGZ who won U20 Asians this year. This was the match @zzs006 predicted for the finals and just like 57kg we would get it int he quarters. I would still favor Blaze here, but he would have B2B matches against Continental champs. If he gets through these matches, I would expect him to run through his semi-opponent, nobody in that quad has any notable results I can find.

On the other side, I would expect to see Satiev vs Khabibullaev in the top QT and Khateri vs Oralbek in the bottom QT with GEO's Gambashisze being another contender with Ayoub (PUR/NEB) being a sleeper on that side. I would bet the semi is Satiev vs Khateri with Khateri coming out on top.

Predictions:
Final:Blaze over Khateri
Semi: Blaze over ?, Semi: Khateri over Satiev
Bronze: Toktomatov over ?, Bronze: Oralbek over Satiev

USA RESULT: BLAZE GOLD
 
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wrestlingfan22

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65kg:
Stanich has a tough path
Match 1, he has a top contender in Toprak. Toprak took 5th at U20s and U23s last year and has some great continental results.
If he wins that match he would get Asan Uulu from KGZ who won U17 worlds last year. If he beats Toprak he would be favored in this match but it would be far from an easy win. His QT opponent would likely be Tuvduu from Mongolia which would be a match I expect him to win. After that he would get Dzhandubaev in the semi's where he would be an underdog. On the other side I would say Ashwani is a large favorite to make the finals.



My prediciton:
Final: Dzhandubaev over Ashwani
Semi: Dzhandubaev over Toprak, Semi: Ashwani over Rustambekov
Bronze: Toprak over Tathashtikeh, Bronze: Rustambekov over Borohan

USA RESULT: STANICH DNP

Toprak is a really tough match for Stanich, he lost by 1 to eventual u20 world champ as this weight last year, I think that Stanich's lack of international freestyle experience leads me to giving Toprak the edge in this one. Due to his draw I think that means Stanich would likely go 0-1, despite him clearly being good enough to wrestle for a medal. That is just the way these UWW brackets work though.
 
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wrestlingfan22

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70kg
Duke should walk to his semi vs Elahi where he would be favored but not a pushover at all. I would still favor him but it could be a little close. His closest match earlier should be rd. 1 against cadet bronze Uslu but he should still beat him with little to no problem.

On the other side Otinashvili likely faces the winner of Ito/Kazharov in the Qts, with whoever comes out of that quad being a major favorite in the semi. For the top right quad, I am predicting Canadian (American/Pitt) Kade Brown comes out and makes the semi but I could see that spot being Tabaldiev or Aranasov as well. Duke's likely finals opponent is Otinashvili where he again would be favored but not expected to just win with ease.

Prediciton:
Final: Duke over Otinashvili
Semi: Duke over Elahi, Otinashvili over Brown
Bronze: Elahi over Uslu, Ito over Brown

USA RESULT: DUKE GOLD
 
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zzs006

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Henckel with the perfect draw! Lockett with a super tough draw but he’s good enough to navigate it. Knox and Stanich with tough draws as well. Dukes looks pretty good and I’m excited for his semi against Elahi. Blaze should win gold but his second round match is no pushover. Blaze is the class of the weight though. Rademacher is tough and Connors is as well. I think the winner of Connor vs Kurugliyev makes the final and beats Jafarli in the semis

I just went and looked and Blazes second round opponent Begoyan beat Satiev at euros on his way to winning gold. Tough match and then Toktomatov next

McEnellys draw is brutal with Yepremyan, Papinashvili, and Rahmani in a row. I picked him to win it though so I guess he can navigate it. Brutal though

I like Connors overall. He has some tough matches obviously with Kurugliyev and Jafarli but he is opposite Poyonov, Gadzhibatyrov, Noory, and Arsunkaev
 
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wrestlingfan22

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74KG:
Dee has to run the gauntlet. Luckily, he is the bad draw for everyone else, not the other way around.
He should take care of Mongolia rd.1 but he will run into Khaniev from Russia in rd.2, who is a great wrestler that nearly placed at u23 worlds last year. I think Lockett wins but that might be his toughest match all tournament. In the QTs he will have either Wagin from Gemany who is also very game and even beat Khaniev at u20 Euros OR he will have Novruzov from Azerbijan who beat Wagin at U23 Euros and took Bronze at Senior Euros. Again, I favor Dee based on his win over Novruzov from last year (3-1), but he will have B2B wars just to make the semis. In the semis, he likely would face Olinyk from UKR based on the results of guys on that side of the bracket. This is a match Dee would be a big favorite in.

Note: Novruzov was not listed in the previews I saw. Was he a late entrant?

On the other side of the bracket, In the top right, it is a very weak quadrant where my favorite to make it to the semis is Dosszhan Kul Gaiyp from KAZ. In the bottom right, there are three solid guys, but of that group, I favor the Iranian to make the semis. I would guess that quarter will be Mamivand of Iran vs Singh of India. That would make the semi Mamivand vs Dosszhan Kul Gaiyp. They had a 9-8 match at u20 Asians, which was won by the Iranian, and I would favor him to repeat that win and make the finals

Prediciton:
Final: Lockett over Mamivand
Semi: Lockett over Olinyk, Semi: Mamivand over Kul Gaiyp
Bronze: Khaniev over Olinyk, Bronze: Kal Gaiyp over Singh

USA RESULT: LOCKETT GOLD
 
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zzs006

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wrestlingfan22 said:
74KG:
Dee has to run the gauntlet. Luckily, he is the bad draw for everyone else, not the other way around.
He should take care of Mongolia rd.1 but he will run into Khaniev from Russia in rd.2, who is a great wrestler that nearly placed at u23 worlds last year. I think Lockett wins but that might be his toughest match all tournament. In the QTs he will have either Wagin from Gemany who is also very game and even beat Khaniev at u20 Euros OR he will have Novruzov from Azerbijan who beat Wagin at U23 Euros and took Bronze at Senior Euros. Again, I favor Dee based on his win over Novruzov from last year (3-1), but he will have B2B wars just to make the semis. In the semis, he likely would face Olinyk from UKR based on the results of guys on that side of the bracket. This is a match Dee would be a big favorite in.

Note: Novruzov was not listed in the previews I saw. Was he a late entrant?

On the other side of the bracket, In the top right, it is a very weak quadrant where my favorite to make it to the semis is Dosszhan Kul Gaiyp from KAZ. In the bottom right, there are three solid guys, but of that group, I favor the Iranian to make the semis. I would guess that quarter will be Mamivand of Iran vs Singh of India. That would make the semi Mamivand vs Dosszhan Kul Gaiyp. They had a 9-8 match at u20 Asians, which was won by the Iranian, and I would favor him to repeat that win and make the finals

Prediciton:
Final: Lockett over Mamivand
Semi: Lockett over Olinyk, Semi: Mamivand over Kul Gaiyp
Bronze: Khaniev over Olinyk, Bronze: Kal Gaiyp over Singh
Click to expand...
Novruzov must have been added super late. He wasn’t there when I went through 74kg. Definitely a tough addition
 
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wrestlingfan22

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79kg: Henckel was blessed by the UWW gods. His first round match he should win and his second round opponent will likely be a solid but very beatable Ukrainian. I would expect him to face either a very game Gharehdaghi in the quarters, who was 2nd on the ladder for making Japan's national team at senior 79kg. However, Japan was really weak this year at 79kg and I think that Henckel should beat Gharehdaghi to make the semis if he faces him. The other possible opponent is this years U20 European Champ Tchetchelashvili from Georgia. He had two impressive wins at that tournament and because of that I would lean towards him taking that match and being the guy Henckel faces in the semi, who again while being a tough opponent I would expect Henckel to win.

In the semi's he is likely to face returning broze medalist and Nebraska wrestler LJ Araujo OR Amit Amit who took 5th in this bracket last year and won u20 Asians. I think Amit has the more impressive results of these two and he is the one I would tentatively favor to face Henckel in the semis. Amit's best result by far is his win by Fall over returning Gold at this weight Begenjov at U20 asians, however he was losing in that match at the time of the fall. I think Henckel is really, really good and should be able to pull this off and make the finals.

On the other side, there are two absolute studs. In the bottom right quarter it is almost guaranteed that Yousefihajiv and Begenjov face off. Begenjov won this weight last year, including a tech over Yousefihajiv. However, Yousefi followed that up by winning U23 worlds last year and winning Senior Asians this year. He has seemingly made jumps since this time last year and because of that I have to make him a slight favorite over Begenjov in this one. To face him in the semi I favor returning 5th Said Saidulov to take out Euro Silver Omarov in the top right Quarterfinal. Whoever comes out of this quad however will be a big underdog to the winner of the bottom right quad.

Predicition:
Final: Yousefi over Henckel
Semi: Henckel over Amit, Semi: Yousefi over Saidulov
Bronze: Amit over Tchetchelashvili, Bronze: Begenjov over Saidulov

USA RESULT: HENCKEL SILVER
 
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wrestlingfan22

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86kg: Max will not have it easy, but he is more than good enough to get it done. His first round match is no slouch, he has Yepremyan from Armenia who has a cadet bronze medal and took 3rd at U20 Euros this year. I would expect McEnelly to win this one but it will not be a pushover at all. His next match will either be Papinashvili from Georgia who won U20 Euro's or Akybaev from KGZ who was bronze at U20 Asians. I would guess he sees Papinashvili who is legit with a win over a retunring medalist at Euros. This would be a tougher match than round 1 for his quarter but I would still think Max wins this and makes the semi.

In the semi he will run into Rahmani from Iran who took 2nd in their national qualifying process losing a 1 takedown match to two time world champ Ghasempour, and he also lost a 5-2 match in a ranking series event to Zahid. He took bronze at this weight last year losing to Kadiev but since then he has won senior and u20 Asians. I think Max is incredible and wrestles with the lack of fear needed to beat these high level guys, however, I lean towards Rahmani due to his greater Freestyle accomplishments and the fact that I think his wins/losses are slightly more impressive.

The other side of the bracket is not as strong. In the top left quadrant I would anticipate the Quarter matchup being Dahiya from India who took 5th at Senior Asians nd returning Bronze at this weight Yagan. I think either guy could win this won to make the semi. In the bottom left quad I would anticipate the winner of the second round matchup between Myradov and Bors to make the semi. Both of these guys are accomplished, and I could see either winning this one. However, since 2023 when in the same cadet Bracket Bors took silver and Myradov took 5th, I feel as if Myradov has had the up-arrow in terms of results and he competed at all three levels of Asians this year. Therefore, I favor Myradov to win this and likely face Dahiya in the semi. I would favor Dahiya in a close one in this matchup based on his superior performance at senior asians.

Predicition:
Final: Rahmani over Dahiya
Semi: Dahiya over Myradov, Rahmani over McEnelly
Bronze: Myradov over Yagan, Bronze: McEnelly over ? (Rahmani's Quarter is very weak)

USA RESULT: MCENELLY BRONZE
 
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zzs006

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I’m so excited for this to start! I took tomorrow off work so I’ll be up watching but unfortunately I have to work Monday and Tuesday. I’ll still be up through the night but will most likely miss the morning rounds. I’ll try and do some pbp tonight if no one else is doing it. Hopefully others can pitch in on the other days
 
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wrestlingfan22

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92Kg: Connor got a decent but still tough draw.
Has China round 1 and should take that match without too much trouble. Match two, he has an absolute stud in Kurugliev from KAZ. Kurugliev took bronze in this bracket last year and took 2nd at 97kg U20 Asians. This is a huge match up that either guy could take and I think Mirasola might even be the underdog. The winner of that likely gets Memedi in the Quarters which is a very manageable match for either guy. That winner should face either Jafarli from AZE or Sachin from IND in the Semi's. Sachin took Bronze at U20 Asians this year while Jafarli took Bronze in this bracket last year and took silver at U20 Euros. I would favor Jafarli to make the semis. He beat Mirasola last year in a 6-2 match and was on the opposite side of the bracket as Kurugliev. Any three of these guys can make the final.

On the other side Gadzhibatyrov is a favorite to make the semis based on beating U20 Euro champ Togoev to make the team, however he will not have an easy quarter with Noory from Iran on his side. Furhter, his 2nd match against Arsunkaev is a match against a very good guy that he will have to be careful against. The top left quad should be all Poyonov which should set up a great semi in Poyonov vs Gadzhibatyrov.

Predictions:
Final: Poyonov over Kurugliev
Semi: Poyonov over Gadzhibatyrov, Semi: Kurugliev over Jafarli
Bronze: Gadzhibatyrov over Kanzawa, Bronze: Mirasola over Jafarli

USA RESULT: MIRASOLA BRONZE

I think Mirasola avenges his bronze medal loss from last year, a match he should have won IMO, but he gave up 6 points in the last minute and a half to lose 6-2. He is good enough to make the finals and even maybe take gold, but I think that Bronze and an improvement on last year's result is what we get this year.
 
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wrestlingfan22

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97kg: Rademacher has Turkey rd 1and he should win that won. His next match is the quarter against favorite in the whole bracket Alizadeh. This is a match that Rademacher will have to get somewhat of an upset to win but I do think it is possible. The likely semi-opponent on this half is Petrashivili from Georgia who won U17 worlds last year and won U20 Euros this year. He is good but not as seasoned at this level as Rademacher and Alizadeh are.

On the other side two of the top guys on that side hit in the first match with Magomedov and Li. Magomedov should win that and should make the finals based on who is on his side of the bracket. His most likely semifinal opponent is probably Vishal Vishal from India. Magomedov is the favorite to make the final for sure on his side.

Prediction:
Final: Alizadeh over Magomedov
Semi: Magomedov over Vishal, Semi: Alizadeh over Petrashivili
Bronze: Li over Vishal, Bronze: Rademacher over Petrashivili

USA RESULT: RADEMACHER BRONZE

I think Rademacher is good enough for gold but based on this draw another bronze would not be a terrible result at all.
 
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