Yianni v Zain Poll

What happens in Yainni v Zain on Sept 2


  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .

bdhof

Well-known member
Things are pretty quiet right now, but that changes in a few days as Yaiini and Zain go after it again on Monday. Zain has a one match to zero lead, meaning he only needs one win to secure his spot on the USA WT. I went out on a limb a week or so ago stating that I thought Yianni would win 2 straight...or Zain would win match 1...or Yianni would win match 1 and Zain would win match 2...or Zain would MFF to Yianni. Here's your chance to get your say. In the poll, Yianni winning 2 straight would be the same as Zain MFF.
 
 
FLR did a thing on the match this week, and they were about as indecisive as I was earlier. All of them picked Yianni, but stating that a Zain win of match 1 or 2 wouldn't surprise anyone. The remark that they made that seemed to make sense to me was that Yianni's curve has gone up so much in the last year or so. Zain was a folkstyle monster coming out of PSU but hasn't transformed that success yet into FS (been more static than progressing thus far). Yianni has wins this year over World #1 seed Bajrang PUNIA (IND) at BTS and World #4 seed Sayatbek OKASSOV (KAZ) in Poland. And he won the Dogu, a pretty nasty tourney, along with the one in Poland. All this on the heels of winning his 2nd NCAAs in March. And then there's the knee factor for Zain. If he's less than 100% no one on Flo gives him much of a chance.
 
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Can I hedge? If Zain isn't 100% healthy I have Yianni in 2. If he is I've got Zain winning at least one. Yianni isn't losing to him again after today though.
 
I went out on a limb a week or so ago stating that I thought Yianni would win 2 straight...or Zain would win match 1...or Yianni would win match 1 and Zain would win match 2...or Zain would MFF to Yianni.
Can I hedge? If Zain isn't 100% healthy I have Yianni in 2. If he is I've got Zain winning at least one. Yianni isn't losing to him again after today though.
Yankeefan is right there with me.
 
Zain worries me at 65kg internationally. I don't think he is good enough to beat the top guys, which is pretty much a top 6 or so (Khinchegashvili, Aliyev, Bajrang, Valdes Tobier, Otoguro, and Rashidov). Yianni recently beat Musukaev and Oganesyan at international tourneys- I'm skeptical Zain beats either of those guys. Then again, he is clearly better than Yianni right now, so who really knows.

If Zain doesn't make a medal match (auto qualifying for the Olympics), we should root for Valdes Tobier to do so. Countries that have already qualified for the Olympics can't compete at the continental qualifier in April, which opens another spot for USA. The 2016 Pan Am qualifiers were Valdes Tobier and Franklin Gomez, but Gomez is up at 74kg now. There aren't a ton of good guys at Pan Ams at 65kg, but that could change (Pico for Mexico?).
 
Zain worries me at 65kg internationally. I don't think he is good enough to beat the top guys, which is pretty much a top 6 or so (Khinchegashvili, Aliyev, Bajrang, Valdes Tobier, Otoguro, and Rashidov). Yianni recently beat Musukaev and Oganesyan at international tourneys- I'm skeptical Zain beats either of those guys. Then again, he is clearly better than Yianni right now, so who really knows.

If Zain doesn't make a medal match (auto qualifying for the Olympics), we should root for Valdes Tobier to do so. Countries that have already qualified for the Olympics can't compete at the continental qualifier in April, which opens another spot for USA. The 2016 Pan Am qualifiers were Valdes Tobier and Franklin Gomez, but Gomez is up at 74kg now. There aren't a ton of good guys at Pan Ams at 65kg, but that could change (Pico for Mexico?).

I wouldn’t say Zain is clearly better than Yianni.

Yianni beat Zain at the US Open.
Zain beat Yianni in Match 1 at Final X.
Yianni beat Zain overseas
Zain just won the second match at Final X.

That makes the series this year 2-2, right?
 
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I wouldn’t say Zain is clearly better than Yianni.

Yianni beat Zain at the US Open.
Zain beat Yianni in Match 1 at Final X.
Yianni beat Zain overseas
Zain just won the second match at Final X.

That makes the series this year 2-2, right?
Technically yes, but I can argue otherwise. The loss overseas was with Zain hurt early in the match, and there was Match 2 of Final X where Zain won. It was nullified, but Zain was the better wrestler that day twice. We just saw Zain shut down Yiannis offense, something nobody else has been able to do this year in freestyle.
 
Technically yes, but I can argue otherwise. The loss overseas was with Zain hurt early in the match, and there was Match 2 of Final X where Zain won. It was nullified, but Zain was the better wrestler that day twice. We just saw Zain shut down Yiannis offense, something nobody else has been able to do this year in freestyle.
Match 2 of Final X was nullified. As many could argue that Yianni won that match as Zain. They obviously are very close. Yianni has shown more success in his short senior career as Zain has, but they’re both pretty young.
 
Match 2 of Final X was nullified. As many could argue that Yianni won that match as Zain. They obviously are very close. Yianni has shown more success in his short senior career as Zain has, but they’re both pretty young.
Zain is 24 and Yianni is 20.
 
Match 2 of Final X was nullified. As many could argue that Yianni won that match as Zain. They obviously are very close. Yianni has shown more success in his short senior career as Zain has, but they’re both pretty young.
Zain has beaten one wrestler worth mentioning at the senior level, that being Yianni 2x. Yianni has beaten World #1 seed Bajrang PUNIA (IND) at BTS and World #4 seed Sayatbek OKASSOV (KAZ) in Poland and Zain 2x. It's settled and Zain is our guy. I hope he does well.
 
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