Asian Wrestling Championships:
Iran finishes third, hits all-time low in freestyle contests
An under-par campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, saw Iran stand third in the freestyle contests – the lowest finish for the dominant force of the sport in the continent since the competition was first introduced in 1979.
Iranian head coach Pejman Dorostkar did not take a full-strength squad to the event but the result will still go down as a failure for the 29-time champion, which saw its run of four successive titles come to an end by the host.
Kazakhstan bagged four golds, two silvers and a bronze to dominate the freestyle table with 179 points, with Japan in second with 129 points, thanks to the 92kg gold for Arash Yoshida, whose father is an Iranian, as well as a silver and four bronze medals.
The Iranian team managed only a single gold medal across 10 weight classes – courtesy of reigning world champion Rahman Amouzad in the 65kg contests – while Alireza Karimi fell short against home favorite Azamat Dauletbekov in the 86kg final on Friday.
A bronze medalist in last September’s World Championships, Dauletbekov won the bout 4-1 to grab his second Asian gold in a row and settle the score with Karimi, who had beaten him on numerous occasions over the past a decade – most recently at the FS World Cup in December.
Meanwhile, Yassin Rezaei bounced back from a semifinal setback against Kyrgyzstan’s Taiyrbek Zhumashbek Uulu to defeat Kodai Ogawa of Japan 7-4 for a joint 61kg bronze alongside Mongolian Tuvshintulga Tumenbileg.
It was a final day to forget for Iranian wrestling on Friday as Amir-Reza Masoumi, trailing 4-2, was pinned by China’s Buheerdun in a 125kg third-place match, with Hossein Abouzari (74kg) and Arashk Mohebbi (92kg) also leaving the event empty-handed.
Amirhossein Kavousi (79kg) and Mojtaba Goleij (97kg) had bagged a couple of bronze medals for Iran on the preceding night as the country finished with 124 points – four points clear of fourth-placed Uzbekistan.
The freestyle disappointment for Iran came after the country had tallied 196 points en route to the Greco-Roman title earlier in Astana.
Pouya Dadmarz (55kg), Iman Mohammadi (63kg), Nasser Alizadeh (87kg), Mehdi Bali (97kg), and Amin Mirzazadeh (130kg) were the five Iranian gold medalists, while Amin Kavianinejad settled for the silver after an injury kept him out of the 77kg final.
Sajjad Imentalab fell short against Ibragim Magomadov of Kazakhstan in the 72kg final with Alireza Mohmadi taking a joint bronze in the 82kg class.
Kyrgyzstan followed Iran in the Greco-Roman standing with 166 points, with Kazakhstan finishing third on 160 points.