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Mohammad Mohammadian pinned Kyle Snyder, teched Bo Nickal, and qualified Iran for the Olympic Games at 97kg. Youd think thatd be enough to earn Mohammadian the Olympic spot for Iran. However, Mohammadian is in a three-man race with Ali Shabani and Alireza Karimi for the right to represent Iran at the Olympics. Lets take a look at how Iran got in this position, their competitors' performances against Americans, and how Iran will decide the spot with less than 3 months until wrestling begins in Tokyo.

In September 2014, Mohammad Mohammadian was competing in his first Senior World Championships at 86kg in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. American fans might remember him for his 7-4 win over Ed Ruth in the round of 32. Mohammadian would go on to lose to Cubas Reineras Salas but come back to take world bronze.

Mohammadian's Win Over Ed Ruth:

At only 22 years old, he looked to be on the path to win multiple medals for Iran at the world level. However, less than a year later, Mohammadian tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended from international competition for 4 years until summer of 2019. This allowed other Iranian wrestlers the chance to emerge on the world stage.

With Mohammadians absence, Alireza Karimi seized the opportunity. In 2015, Karimi placed bronze at the World Championships at 86kg. Karimis only loss at worlds came in the semi-finals to Abdulrashid Sadulaev. That 6-2 loss was also Sadulaevs closest match of the 2014 and 2015 world Championships.

With the World Bronze, Karimi earned the right to represent Iran at 86kg at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He came up short and lost to Jden Cox in the quarter-finals-6-1. Then 74kg Olympic Champion Hassan Yazdani chose to move up to 86kg, forcing Karimi to sit the bench for a year.

In 2018, 92kg opened up as an international weight class and Karimi was back in action. Karimi would take world bronze in 2018 and followed that up with a silver at the world championships in 2019. Both years, Karimis only losses at worlds were to the 92kg World Champion, Jden Cox. Despite the losses to Cox, Karimi proved he is a top-level talent forIran and earned his consideration for the 97kg Olympic team spot through his years at 86kg and 92kg.

J'den Cox vs Alireza Karimi in the 2019 World Finals

While Karimi was holding down 92kg, Ali Shabani entered the scene at 97kg. Shabani is younger than Mohammadian and Karimi and was a 2018 U23 World Bronze medalist. He also only lost to Kyle Snyder 2-1 in the finals of the 2019 Yasar Dogu and was Irans rep at the 2019 World Championships. However, the reason Iran wasnt qualified for the Olympics at 97kg is due to Shabanis 11-8 loss to Georgias Elizbar Odikadze at 2019 Worlds. Shabanis poor performance opened the door for Mohammadians return.

The door could not have been opened at a better time. Immediately after the 2019 World Championships concluded, Mohammad Mohammadian was eligible for International competition. In January 2020, he burst onto the scene at the Matteo Pellicone and teched Bo Nickal in just over 2 minutes. Then Mohammadian would go out to a 8-0 lead before pinning World and Olympic Champion Kyle Snyder! Mohammadian looked to be in the drivers seat to take control of the 97kg spot for Iran.

Then the global pandemic happened - international events were cancelled for 7 months and the 97kg spot for Iran got crowded. UWW announced plans for a potential 2020 World Championships and Iran began their World Team Trials in November. The finals at 97kg came down to a best of 3 series between Ali Shabani and Mohammad Mohammadian (Karimi suffered an injury and was not at their trials). In surprising fashion, Shabani defeated Mohammadian in two-straight matches (8-4 and 4-0) to claim the 97kg world team spot. Iran ended up not sending either to the 2020 Individual World cup, but the waters were muddied because of Shabani's wins.

Rather than hosting another wrestle off for the Olympic Spot, Iran chose to send their 97kg wrestlers to international tournaments to help bring clarity. They sent Mohammadian to qualify the weight for the Olympics at the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier. Mohammadian looked to be back to his dominant ways-winning gold with 3 techs and outscoring his opponents 36-4. Then, Iran sent Ali Shabani to the European Championships to test him against a similar field. Shabani was equally impressive and won gold with 3 techs and outscored his opponents 33-2.

Also during this time, Alireza Karimi returned from injury. Because of his past success at the world level, Iran allowed him to stay in contention for the Olympic spot and he returned to action in March 2021. Karimi placed silver at the Matteo Pellicone at 97kg and ran into two Americans at there. Karimi defeated Hayden Zillmer 6-3, but lost to Kollin Moore in the gold medal match on criteria-3-3.

That brings the events to today. Iran has three 97kg wrestlers who have the potential to medal at the Olympics. They are all currently ranked in the top 11 in the World - #3 Shabani, #4 Mohammadian, #11 Karimi. Iran will send those three to The Poland Open (also called Ziolkowski) on June 8th to help determine who will represent them at 97kg in the Olympics. All three have proven to be successful on the international scene but only Mohammadian has not lost to an American.

The Poland Open is shaping up to be deep at many weights and Russia is reportedly sending their top wrestlers. That means the world's #1 pound for pound wrestler, Abdulrashid Sadulaev, will also be in Poland with Irans top 3 at 97kg. America will also send a contingent of athletes to Poland but the official US roster has not been released.

The Iranian's always wrestle with zeal but expect those three to show extreme passion at The Poland Open in their attempt to win the right to represent Iran at The Olympics.

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Which Iranian Will Challenge Kyle Snyder At The Olympics? - FloWrestling

Iran has been fanning the flames of the confrontations in Jerusalem. Days before the latest clashes developed, Irans Ayatollah Khamenei and its IRGC head, Hossein Salami, prepared speeches and media engagements in which they pushed messages throughout the region, arguing that Israel is in a downward spiral and destined to fall apart. This message was given to Hassan Nasrallah in his Lebanon bunker where he would also emphasize Israels internal divisions in a Quds Day speech on Friday, May 7. This message discipline of Iran and its proxies was clear. Days later, however, as the violence in Jerusalem has grown and western powers have joined the chorus condemning Israel, as well as countries in the Gulf, who have increased concerns. Iran has been more quiet. So what happened? Why isnt Irans regime riding the chaos, exploiting it, increasing tensions in Syria? While tensions simmer in Jerusalem on Monday, Irans Tasnim, which is linked to the IRGC, ran an all-important story about bureaucracy in Iran. Why should an entrepreneur go to 18 places to get a license? Good question, but not the usual Zionism is ending dogma. What other news from Tehran? The regime is talking about the Vienna nuclear talks and discussing the pandemic. At Fars News the stories revolve around the high cost of vaccines and reduction in smuggling. There is no doubt that in English, Iran has a different message. At Irans Press TV, its propaganda network focused on western audiences in English, it has wall-to-wall coverage of Jerusalem. Iran-backed Hamas says Israel will pay a price for the violence and Iran notes that its foreign ministry cares deeply about Palestinian issues. Of course, we know that the ministry is in the dog house with the Iranian regime in recent weeks because of leaked tapes of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif speaking with embarrassing disrespect about the late Qasem Soleimani. Iran may be fumbling a bit in trying to ride the chaos in Jerusalem. It has long backed Hamas and Hezbollah, but as usual, Iran has no real plan to confront Israel. It prefers the propaganda of claims that Israel is falling apart from within, rather than take direct action. This is because Iran knows its own capabilities fall short of confronting Israel on the battlefield, or even with its proxies. It sought to fan the flames of chaos on Quds Day, but beyond that, it has nothing to show for it. Despite its propaganda, it has made no real inroads with the Palestinians and so far it is struggling to exploit the violence.

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What is Irans goal in the Jerusalem crisis? - The Jerusalem Post

Voters of all stripes who live in three southcentral Pennsylvania counties have the opportunity to cast a ballot in a May 18 special election to decide who will represent them in the state Senate for the next 18 months.

On the ballots in Lebanon County and parts of York and Dauphin counties, voters will see the names of four candidates listed who hope to fill the 48th state Senatorial District seat that became open due to the January death of Sen. Dave Arnold. The winner will serve out the remainder of his term that expires Nov. 30, 2022.

This seat has rested securely in Republican hands for decades and that is an advantage that falls in Republican newcomer Christopher Gebhards favor.

But Dr. Calvin Clements, the Democrat in the race, is optimistic that voters in the district want someone like him working on their behalf in Harrisburg. He touts a science background and more than three decades of business acumen from operating veterinary clinics.

The seat also has attracted the interest of Ed Krebs, an independent who came out of retirement to launch his Bring People Together political movement. Krebs formerly served in the state House of Representatives for 12 years, first as a Democrat and then as a Republican. He believes his legislative experience along with his fiscally conservative but socially moderate views could attract Republican voters who want another option but cant bring themselves to vote for a Democrat.

Tim McMaster, a Libertarian who believes his partys desire to get government out of peoples lives, will carry enough appeal in this race to let his party finally gain a foothold in the Senate.

The interesting twist to this race is it will be decided in a special election that coincides with a primary.

Primary elections typically draw out only registered Republican or Democratic voters to decide their party nominees. But this primary also offers all voters, regardless of party, the chance to weigh in on some controversial proposed constitutional amendments that have been getting plenty of attention.

So that, plus the convenience of mail-in no-excuse voting, could make this race not as cut and dry as some might think.

Their aha moment

Each of the candidates came at their decision to run for this political office in a different way.

For Clements, it was the backlash to the COVID-19 pandemic and Republicans refusal, as he put it, to follow the science.

The 70-year-old retired veterinarian from Lebanon County agrees that Gov. Tom Wolfs mitigation orders were difficult but he said they were difficult to everybody. But without doing it, we would have had a tremendous amount of deaths beyond the more than 26,000 already recorded, he said.

For McMaster, an information technology analyst who operates a farm in York County, it happened when he was collecting signatures to get the Libertarian Party candidates on the 2020 general election ballot.

The 46-year-old overheard the partys presidential candidate Spike Cohen say the party really needed to focus on getting candidates elected to local offices so others could see we are just normal people who want other people to be free and unencumbered by government. He initially decided to run for township supervisor but switched gears when the Senate seat opened up.

For Krebs, it was the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that roused his desire to return to government to serve only for the 18-month duration of the unexpired term.

The 77-year-old bicycle enthusiast has deep Lebanon County roots and a farming and economics background. He admits he also was influenced by people who like his philosophy of governing from the middle and not wanting the winner to be under control of the countys Republican Party leadership.

Gebhard, who at one point was challenged for the GOP nomination by seven other candidates, said running for a political office was not anything he ever thought he would do. Instead, his family was active in his Lebanon County community in other ways.

Weve always had the belief its the responsibility of everyone to do their small part to make their community a better place, said the 46-year-old owner of an insurance and risk management firm. I felt this was a calling to do that at a greater level.

Primary area of focus

All four identified financial-related issues as the primary area where they would focus their attention if elected.

For Gebhard, it would be looking to improve the states business climate.

We certainly need to look at our business environment and find ways to make it more competitive and make it more attractive so we can recruit and bring in businesses that are going to provide good family-supporting jobs, he said.

For Clements, its paying down the state pension systems unfunded liability and believes its necessary to freeze the defined benefit plan for current employees to bring the pension debt under control. While others maintain that would be unconstitutional, Clements said if its necessary to amend the constitution to make it happen, hes up for that.

For McMaster, its tax reform with an eye toward eliminating the state income tax. He said that revenue could be replaced with money from corporate taxes as a result of all the new businesses and workers that Pennsylvania would draw in being a no-income-tax state.

For Krebs, picking one primary area of focus was tough but among them was balancing a state budget without the smoke-and-mirror tactics of accounting gimmicks, dipping into special funds and ambitious revenue estimates.

I understand the games, he said. They havent passed a real balanced budget basically since I left the Legislature in 2002.

Will you be a full-time legislator?

For Krebs and Clements, the answer is yes, although neither considers serving in the Legislature as a job but rather a short-term public service opportunity.

McMaster raises goats and cows so he said he will still continue farming but would take a leave from his IT job if elected.

Gebhard, on the other hand, does not intend to step away from his business. He said that connection to the community will keep him grounded. Moreover, he said, its going to allow me to not be dependent on the Senate position to support my family. I think thats important because itll allow me to make decisions based on what is right rather than what I need to get re-elected.

What makes them the best qualified?

McMaster, a one-time professional wrestler, said he is not beholden to a party but rather the idea of freedom of the people and getting government out of peoples lives, out of their wallets and out of their bedroom.

I think thats what people really, really want, he said. Its the way our system was intended. The government was there as a necessary evil at best.

Clements cites his maturity, experience in operating a profitable chain of veterinary offices, creating 57 jobs, living within a budget and understanding science.

I can listen to a lot of opinions and can come up with a consensus as opposed to following the left or the right, he said.

Gebhard cites the fact that he isnt a career politician as a selling point to voters.

I think that gives me great independence. Im not beholden to anyone. The only people I answer to are the voters, he said. Im not dependent on this position to support my family and that gives me great independence, independence of thought and independence of action. I think those things are all important.

Krebs pointed to the name of his political movement, Bring People Together. He said in the sharply divided political atmosphere inside the Capitol, that is what needs to happen and hes the guy to do it.

It used to be the center ruled. You had moderates in both parties and they came up with a consensus, he said. Im a moderate who has the experience in Harrisburg and the best one who can do the job in 18 months. Some of the other guys are good but none of them have the experience I do. They need to learn about Harrisburg.

If you are a registered voter who lives in any of the following municipalities, you have the opportunity to vote for one of these candidates: All of Lebanon County; in Dauphin County, Conewago, Londonderry, Swatara and Lower Swatara townships and the boroughs of Highspire, Middletown, Paxtang, Royalton and Steelton; and in York County, Conewago, East Manchester, Newberry and Springettsbury townships and the boroughs of Goldsboro, Lewisberry, Manchester, Mount Wolf, and York Haven.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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The Pa. Senate 48th District race: Whos the best man for the job? - PennLive

Space-faring 4Xer Galactic Civilizations IV has been announced by Stardock, and it's due out in 2022. The new deep space strategy game expands on the series' template by a number of factors, bringing multi-sector maps and a huge cast of characters to what was already a chunky series. Heres what we know.

It's biiiiiig. What would have previously been a whole game map for you to play on is now just a sector amidst a galactic battle, according to Stardock: "Galactic Civilizations IV introduces star sectors. Each sector is akin to a map in Galactic Civilizations III. Most of these sectors are similar to tiny to large GalCiv III maps that represented a section of the overall galaxy that the player was trying to conquer. Now, there can be anywhere from one to dozens of star sectors to explore."

With such an expansion of game size comes key management features to help you deal with your empire. By default, planets arent managed but instead just provide resources to you. You can designate a planet a core world, which will change it from a resource node to a more functional (or potentially dysfunctional) world under your direct control. Each core world requires a governor, wholl provide a number of bonuses, like better diplomatic relations or research.

As the game expands, youll have to deal with other civilisations while keeping tabs on your own. You could build up a leader of your own so much that they decide theyre powerful enough to rebel against you, but a balanced system of leaders and resources will enable you to play through to the end game without having to deal with too much micromanagement.

Combat is far more involved, now, too. Rather than confining battles to a single turn, fleets might survive the initial assualt resulting in either more violence or a change of tactics to resolve things. This extends to planetary invasions, too. You'll have to work harder to take over a world, which will resist according to its population and defensive capabilities.

It's up to you how hard you go. The morality system is now based on ideologies rather than whims. As Stardock put it: "Galactic Civilizations IV has a 4-axis system: Collectivist, Authoritarian, Individualist, and Libertarian. Player choices in the game will give them points in one of these four areas allowing them to unlock new ideology perks that give them new features and bonuses (as well as penalties)."

Like every GalCiv, theres a whole books worth of detail to go into. The official site has a lot more information. To make sure it keeps on the right track, theyll be running an early access program later this spring that starts in the alpha stage of development.

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Galactic Civilizations IV is officially happening, and it sounds very grand indeed - Rock Paper Shotgun

A key Senate committee on Tuesday began debating Democrats sweeping elections overhaul, muscling toward a vote on a landmark national expansion of voting rights meant to blunt ballot restrictions by Republican-controlled statehouses.

Liberals who have made the bill, H.R. 1, their top legislative priority hailed the debate and anticipated vote in the Senate Rules Committee as a significant milestone. If enacted, it would effectively override laws emerging in states like Georgia and Florida that raise barriers to vote with national requirements meant to lower them like automatic voter registration, no-excuse early and mail-in voting and the re-enfranchisement of former felons.

But with Republicans digging in to oppose the 800-page bill, the parties were expected to deadlock on a final vote by the committee, which is evenly divided between the two parties. That outcome would deny the bill its outright approval, and complicate an already steep path forward to passage on a Senate floor, where Democrats only chance of making it law most likely requires them to change chamber rules to bypass the legislative filibuster.

During a tense debate on Tuesday, Democrats feigned trying to build bipartisan support. But they spent much of their energy attacking Republicans for what they called an orchestrated campaign, staked on false claims of election fraud by President Donald J. Trump, to make it harder for Americans of color and young people to vote.

What are my Republican colleagues in the Senate going to do? Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said at the sessions outset, calling the debate a legacy defining choice.

These laws carry the stench of oppression, the smell of bigotry, Mr. Schumer added. Are you going to stamp it out, or are you going to spread it?

Republicans showed no signs they would change course, and adamantly defended states rights to set elections laws. Mr. Schumers Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, slammed the bill as a liberal power grab cooked up at the Democratic National Committee and designed to advantage one side to the disadvantage of the other.

Our democracy is not in crisis, and were not going to let one party take over our democracy under the false pretense of saving it, he said.

They were prepared to offer dozens of amendments trying to strike or draw attention to provisions they find particularly objectionable, like the restructuring of the Federal Election Commission and establishment of a public financing system for congressional candidates. Both parties said amendment debate could push a final vote on the bill into Wednesday morning.

Democrats will also propose technical and substantive tweaks during Tuesdays session to address concerns raised primarily by state elections administrators who complained that some voting provisions would be expensive or onerous to implement. For now, though, they do not plan to remove any of the bills main pillars, which also include strict new ethics requirements for the White House and Congress, an end to partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, and new disclosure requirements for dark money groups.

Liberal activists are putting intense pressure on Democrats to change Senate rules to allow it to pass with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes currently required to break a filibuster. Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, has rejected that approach so far. He has called for narrower legislation focused on expanding early voting and ballot security, and insists he will not vote to change Senate rules around the filibuster.

Democratic senators plan to meet privately Thursday afternoon to debate how to move forward, according to two Democratic officials. Proponents of the bill fear that if Congress does not act quickly, there will not be time to implement the changes before 2022.

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Senate Panel to Weigh Democrats' Election Overhaul - The New York Times