One of the most anticipated men's freestyle matches of the Senior World Championships in Paris this week is a presumed 97kg head-to-head between U.S. phenom Kyle Snyder and Russian juggernaut Abdulrashid Sadulaev. If the top two wrestlers in the world heading into the tournament are to meet, it will be for the gold medal, as the contenders drew opposite sides of Saturday's bracket.
pic.twitter.com/RcUqBDgKgG
— Pat Nowaczyk (@SidecarPat) August 25, 2017
Snyder, the two-time NCAA heavyweight champion and reigning Olympic 97kg Gold Medalist, earned a bye in the opening round, and will face off in the Round of 16 versus Mamed Ibragimov of Kazakhstan (not to be confused with Magomed Ibragimov of Uzbekistan, third in FloWrestling's May rankings). Ibragimov was unranked in May, though he started the year in the Top 10 of United World Wrestling's international standings.
After seeing teammate Logan Stieber draw one of the toughest brackets in the tournament, Snyder's path to gold seems far more manageable with his biggest test on track to be in the final match of the tournament.
Sadulaev, known as "The Russian Tank," was the top 97kg wrestler in the world coming into the tournament, according to Flo's July standings. As I noted in my preview last week, the Russian also took home gold at the Rio games, and is moving up from the 86kg division to take on Snyder at Worlds.
He is undefeated in international competition since dropping November 2013 match, and boasts a stunning 64-1 record on the global stage. Snyder has been very open about his hope that he'll square up agains Sadulaev in Paris.
There is one great matchup on Saturday. One for the ages. No, but the #MayweatherMcGregor farce. Sadulaev-Snyder at #Lutte2017 will be epic.
— Umar Lee (@PenofUmar) August 25, 2017
Assuming Snyder handles business in his first bout against an Olympian making his World games debut, he'll face a slate of unranked opponents through the quarterfinals. His draw is almost the complete opposite of Stieber's draw Friday.
According to FloWrestling's preview, he'll face marginally more adversity once he gets to the semifinals, with possible opponents including world No. 9 Riza Yildirim of Turkey, the reigning European champion, or No. 8 Aslanbek Alborov of Azerbaijan, who beat Yildirim in the Yasar Dogu finals.
On the other side of the bracket, however...
Sadulaev's draw is considerably harder. He'll start off with a rematch of his 2014 world final against Reineris Salas Perez (CUB), and then have to go through last year's Olympic bronzes in Elizabar Odikadze (GEO) and Magomed Ibragimov (UZB). Sadulaev teched Odikadze at the Alrosa Cup two years ago.
...and while Sadulaev is known as one of the top wrestlers on the planet, he's apparently a farm boy at heart.
TrackWrestling has streaming available for a mere $9.99. Qualifying rounds open at 4 a.m. EDT Saturday, and I'll have updates throughout the morning.
