Olympic Games Watch Party

Matches To Watch On Day 2 Of The Olympics

Matches To Watch On Day 2 Of The Olympics

What to watch for in Tokyo as Day 2 of the Summer Games gets underway.

Aug 1, 2021 by Andrew Spey
null

Unlock this video, live events, and more with a subscription!

Sign Up

Already a subscriber? Log In

It's already the wee hours of Day 2 of the Olympic Games here in the Western Hemisphere, but It's still Day 1 in Tokyo, which means we're not going to talk about the Day 1, Session 2 semifinals about to happen, and instead only discuss the Day 2, Session 1 matchups (which will take place in the evening of Day 2 here in the US. 

And then maybe discuss some Day 2, Session 2 matchups (which will take place early in the morning on Day 3 for us North Americans). 

Bear in mind there are two sets of overlapping groups of three weight classes that will compete in both of those Day 2 sessions. Good luck keeping it all straight. I'm already thoroughly discombobulated and it's only going to get worse as we go. 

Indeed, that's part of why these Olympics are so exhilarating in my already blurry-eyed opinion.

Day 2 Session 1: GR 60kg, GR 130kg & WFS 76kg Repechage + GR 77kg, GR 97kg & WFS 68kg Prelims

Adeline made the semis so she'll be in a medal match no matter what. Ildar Hafizov could have a matchup with Russia's Sergey Emelin in the repechage, though. That would be epic as Emelin has a lot of really impressive hardware (like world gold and silver medals) so obviously, watch that match if it happens. 

There will probably be some other cool repechage bouts but they will all depend on who wins the semifinals, which haven't happened yet and I'm not going to speculate.

Instead, we'll focus on the prelim matches. But first, I implore, nay insist, you read Davy Bravy bracket reactions, which cover a lot of the same terrorism we're about to go over.  

68kg: Tamyra Mensah-Stock (USA) vs Sara Dosho (JPN)

Dosho went beast mode in 2016 and 2017, beating the crap out of everyone and winning an Olympic and World gold medal. She missed some time since then due to injury and then lost in the 2019 worlds to Tamyra, who herself was in the midst of beasting.

Tamyra earned the number one seed, but that is the joy of random draws and sometimes you draw a really tough opponent right off the bat. These are tiny brackets, though, and everyone who makes the Olympics is good as hell so whatever, Tamyra is the bad draw.  

It's also not like there aren't going to be heaps of crazy good matchups like that in every bracket. Try this one for example.

68kg: Larroque (FRA) vs Soronzonbold (MGL)

Mongolia's most decorated women's wrestling (check out the rad movie UWW produced about her) vs up and coming superstar from France (and both with awesome names imo). 

Battsettseg is an Asian and World champ and a 2019 world bronze medalist. Koumba won her last three tournies (including a European gold) and is a 2018 Junior world champ. 

So you see, we've already discovered two incredible matchups in just one bracket.

97kg: Hancock (USA) vs Kajaia (SRB)

Our other American making their Olympic debut in this session is also in for a gnarly round 1 matchup. Hancock's match vs Kajaia is winnable but it's going to be a brawl. Mihail is originally from Georiga and his brother (at least I assume he is his brother) is currently in the semifinals of the 130kg bracket. 

Kajaia (no idea how to pronounce that name btw) had his best results in 2018 when he won World bronze and Euro silver, and then followed it up with a 2019 world bronze. He DNP'd in his last four major events though, so he's far from invincible. 

If G'Angleo wins there, it's either Hungary or Czechia, and, not gonna lie, I don't know anything about either, but I nevertheless very much like G'Angleo's odds to win. Then it'd be Evloev, but that would be in the semis and on Day 3 and thus, outside the purview of this blog. 

97kg: Evloev (ROC) vs Melia (GEO)

Evloev's first round match is on our docket, however, and you should watch it, because Evloev has been insanely dominant over the last 3 years winning LITERALLY  every competition he's entered. 

Musa's last loss was at the 2018 Euros in April, which is technically over three years ago. 

77kg: Starcevic (CRO) vs Mnatsakanian (BUL)

Mnatsakanian has an Armenian name but as far as I can tell has only wrestled for Bulgaria. Starcevic is Croatian and his first name is Bozo but it's not pronounced like the clown, the z is a zh (like the s in treasure) so don't call him Bozo and definitely don't call him a clown because 1) that's rude and unnecessary and 2) he would destroy you dude are you kidding me.  

Day 2 Session 2: GR 60kg, GR 130kg & WFS 76kg Medal Round + GR 77kg, GR 97kg & WFS 68kg Semifinals

This will start super early in the morning on Day 3 of our Olympic experience here in the continental USA but still technically in session 2 of Day 1 of the actual Olympics experience happening in Tokyo, so we are permitted to discuss Adeline Gray's potential match for gold. 

That is, assuming she wins her semifinal bout, which is happening soon here on Day 2 of our Olympic experience (but still Day 1 of the Tokyo experience). 

And just as we don't know for sure if Adeline is going to wrestle in the finals, we also don't know who her opponent might be. 

In fact, we don't know what any of the matchups will be in this session. 

Look, I'll fess up, about halfway through writing this blog I realized this should have all just been added to Bray's bracket reaction article. But instead of doing that I just keep going. What can I say, I selfishly wanted the pageviews. 

So you got a superfluous blog where I mostly just rambled about time zones. That's what happens after the delirium sets in. And we've still got 12 sessions and 6 more days to go! Or is it 7? Ah, who's counting.