Wrestling U20 Worlds:
Shakeri, Babalou win double golds for Iran on Day 2
The second day of the Wrestling U20 World Championships in Amman, Jordan, saw Iranians grab a couple of gold medals, as well as a silver, across five weight classes in the freestyle contests.
Having finished ninth at the event in Sofia last year, Mohammadreza Shakeri went all the way in the Jordanian capital this time around, walking away with the ultimate prize of the 65kg competitions.
Shakeri powered past opponents from Spain and Japan before a thrilling 11-8 win against Russian Dalgat Abdulkadyrov – participating as a neutral athlete – sent the Iranian into the final shown against Jesse Mendez of the United States.
The Iranian young gun opened the scoring against Mendez with a stepout before being handed a second point for the American’s inactivity.
Shakeri was put on the shot clock in the second period but went on to lead 4-1 through successive stepouts with one minute left.
Mendez reduced the deficit to two but the Iranian managed to hold out a desperate push by the American to seal a 5-2 triumph.
Abolfazl Babalou won a second gold of the afternoon for Iran, thanks to a 5-0 beating of Ukrainian Ivan Prymachenko in the 97kg final.
Last time the Iranian was in action in Amman, he had to leave the Asian U20 Championships empty-handed in July, but in a remarkable turnaround, Babalou avenged his losses to Kazakhstan’s Kamil Kurguliyev and Indian Deepak Chahal – followed by a 5-1 triumph over American Camden Mc Danel in the semifinals.
Prymachenko’s inactivity and a couple of stepouts saw Babalou take a 3-0 advantage into the break and he then rounded off the victory with a takedown in the second period.
A second Iran-USA final showpiece on Tuesday pitted Ali Rezaei against American Meyer Shapiro – a cadet world champion in 2021 – in the 70kg contests.
Returning to Amman as an Asian gold winner, Rezaei outclassed wrestlers from Turkey, Poland, Moldova, and Kyrgyzstan en route to the final but had to settle for a silver after giving away a 4-0 lead to lose 11-6 to Shapiro.
It was still an improvement for the Iranian in the age group following his bronze-winning campaign in the tournament two years ago.
Shapiro’s gold proved to be the sole final victory for the American team on Tuesday as Luke Lilledahl – last year’s U17 world champion – fell to a 5-0 defeat against Japan’s Yuto Nishiuchi in the 57kg decider.
Iranian Ahmad Mohammadnejad Javan’s run in the category came to a last-eight finish, courtesy of a 3-1 setback against Ruslan Asif Abdullayev of Azerbaijan.
Farzad Safi Jahanshahi, meanwhile, failed to finish on the podium in the 79kg event after an 11-1 defeat against Ali Tcokaev – also from Azerbaijan – in the third-place bout.
American Matthew Singleton won the other bronze of the class, while Russian Ibragim Kadiev secured a gold for the Individual Neutral Athletes team with a 17-6 dismantling of Indian Sagar Jaglan.