According to Mehr reporter, the selection cycle of the national freestyle wrestling team to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics was announced by the wrestling federation, but this cycle has many uncertainties. According to what the wrestling federation announced, all wrestlers must enter the selection cycle from the national championship, and only world medalists and wrestlers who won gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games are exempt from participating in the selection cycle.
Of course, the federation has given a special privilege to the people who won the Olympic quota in the world championships and exempted them from participating in the national championship. This special privilege is for the benefit of people who unexpectedly appeared in the world championships and now they can reach the national team composition like drinking water. For example, Rahman Amouzad did not perform well in the 65 kg weight class in the world championships, but due to winning the Olympic quota, which he barely managed to win, he was exempted from participating in the national championship. While Amouzad had his worst performance in this year’s world championships and could not even repeat last year’s gold and barely reached the Olympic quota. Now, with this special privilege, Rahman is easily exempted from participating in the national championship and will participate in the Asian championship.
Testing the tested is a mistake
This selection cycle was repeated last year, Rahman Amouzad was exempted from participating in the national championship, and then due to the injury of the top players in the national championship, Rahman was selected for the Asian Championship and became a world traveler by winning the gold medal of that competition. But the result of this choice was the poor and unexpected performance of Amuzad in the world championships. He could not perform well even in the Asian Games and it is not clear why the people of the federation chose the same way again?! Amouzad appeared unexpectedly in the World Championships and even in the Asian Games, why didn’t they consider another way to choose this wrestling for the 2024 Olympics?! The Asian Championship was a good opportunity to find a rival for Rahman Amouzad in the weight of 65 kg, and they worked together to reach the runner-up position of the national team and participate in the Olympics.
Meritocracy is the missing link in the selection cycle
According to the selection cycle for the national freestyle wrestling team, it seems that the obstacles that the federation has considered for wrestlers to join the national team are very easy, and with these conditions, wrestlers cannot be selected properly. Only participating in the Asian Championship makes wrestlers like Rahman reach the national team very soon and feel comfortable about participating in the Olympics, while the early selection of Rahman Amouzad makes him appear in the 2024 Olympics like the unexpected world championship.