NO HOLDS BARRED

When I made my predictions for 2007 World Wrestling Championships as part of an annual poll of international wrestling journalists by USA Wrestling, I wrote, "Most will likely be wrong, but hopefully this exercise will stimulate more interest in this important event."

As it turns out, it was the first part of that particular prediction which was wrong. I correctly predicted 11 of the 21 gold medalists, just over half. But I do believe that the second part was correct, and this exercise in prognostication played at least some small role in building interest for this event and for wrestling.

Here is the article on TheMat.com about yours truly picking the most gold medalists in this year's poll:

Eddie Goldman picks most gold medalists among international journalists for World Championships
09/28/2007

Eddie Goldman of No Holds Barred emerged as the expert among international journalists who predicted the gold medalists in each weight class prior to the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Goldman correctly picked 11 of the 21 winners. He picked 6 of the 7 winners in women's freestyle and 4 of the 7 winners in men's freestyle. He correctly picked 1 Greco-Roman champion.

Al Bevilacqua of www.nywrestling.com was second with 10 correct winners. Maahyar Rassaei of Iran Wrestling was third with 9 correct champions.

FINAL STANDINGS WITH NUMBER OF CORRECT CHAMPIONS LISTED
Eddie Goldman (No Holds Barred) 11
Al Bevilacqua (www.nywrestling.com) 10
Maahyar Rassaei (Iran Wrestling) 9
Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling/TheMat.com) 7
Ikuo Higuchi (Japan Wrestling Federation website) 7
Craig Sesker (USA Wrestling/TheMat.com) 7
Mike Finn (Wrestling International Newsmagazine) 6
Jason Bryant (InterMat) 5
Clint Kingsbury (Canadian Wrestling Federation) 5

Labels: Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, TheMat.com, world wrestling championships, wrestling