48kg, 58kg and 69kg Bracket Reactions
Aug 16, 2016
Check out the full brackets on FloArena.
The only American wrestler competing tomorrow is 48kg Haley Augello (NYAC). She landed on the top half of the bracket and her first round opponent will be Jessica Blaszka (NED).
Augello, on an Olympic redshirt from King, has her hands full with Blaszka, who was a bronze medalist at last year’s world championships. Currently ranked 12th in the world, Blaszka has competed six times since Vegas. Her best performances are second at the Golden Grand Prix and Grand Prix of Germany.
Both of these two have made surprising runs to Rio. Augello has spent most of her career up at 48kg, but dropped down for this Olympic year. Blaszka had never placed at either the European or world championships, but broke through last year after losing to Mariya Stadnik (AZE) in the first round.
Should Augello take out Blaszka, she will see three-time defending world champ Eri Tosaka (JPN). Augello will need to display the same type of resiliency she showed at Olympic Trials to win this match. Earlier this year, Tosaka lost at the Asian championships, her first defeat since the 2012 world finals.
Beating Tosaka would be a massive upset on the world level, and her likely opponent in the semis should that happen is world No. 2 Sun Yanan, the same wrestler who beat Tosaka in February. If Augello loses and gets pulled back into repechage, she would need to beat world No. 4 Jyldyz Eshimova (KAZ) to make the bronze medal match.
America does not have a wrestler at either 58kg or 69kg, but both have a number of subplots to keep your eye on for day four of Olympic wrestling.
Kaori Icho (JPN) is trying to make history and become the first wrestler to ever win four Olympic gold medals. She won every world title this quad, is ranked No. 1 in the world and sits on the top half of the 58kg bracket.
But lying in wait in the finals is Orkhon Purevdorj (MGL), the first wrestler in 13 years to defeat Icho. In January at the Yarygin, Purevdorj countered her way to a 10-0 tech over Icho. The Mongolia has never made a senior world team, but does have a junior world bronze and a world military silver to her credit.
Purevdorj techs Icho in Russia
For 69kg, the girl to watch is defending world and Olympic champion Natalia Vorobeva (RUS). She has an easy road to the finals and is a huge favorite at this weight even though she has taken two losses this year.
In January at the UWW Test Event, Dori Yeats (CAN) knocked off Vorobeva 7-5 in the first round. Last month in Spain, Jenny Fransson (SWE) won 5-3 in the finals over Vorobeva. Both are on the opposite side of the bracket, but neither is likely to make the finals.
The two favorites to come out of the bottom half meet in round one as 2014 world champ Aline Focken (GER) takes on 2015 world silver Feng Zhou (CHN).
