Mirzazadeh, Zare’ throw down
the gauntlet to world super heavyweights
Iranian duo Amin Mirzazadeh and Amirhossein Zare’ have already emerged as the favorites for Olympic glory next year after capturing the statement superheavyweight golds at the Wrestling World Championships.
Trailing a 2-0 deficit midway through the second period, Mirzazadeh scored a couple of stepouts, the last of which came with six seconds left on the clock, to beat Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp on last-point criteria in the Greco-Roman 130kg final on Friday – days after his fellow Iranian Zare’ had won a second freestyle 125kg gold in three years, courtesy of a technical fall victory over Georgian Geno Petriashvili.
This was a first triumph for Mirzazadeh in three encounters with the five-time world champion Kayaalp.
The 25-year-old Iranian was unlucky to miss out on a medal in his maiden Olympic appearance in Tokyo, where he fell to a 7-3 loss to the Turkish in the third-place bout.
Mirzazadeh then came short against Kayaalp in last year’s world final after it finished 1-1.
“I started preparing for this tournament two weeks after last year’s final and I’m happy that I was rewarded for all my efforts,” Mirzazadeh said after his victory.
“My family kept telling me for a whole year that I should go to the final and beat Riza Kayaalp,” said the Iranian.
An under-23 world champion in 2021, Mirzazadeh hopes the gold in Belgrade will only be the first of many in his senior career.
“I’ll try my best to improve day by day and become a better wrestler. I hope to win a gold in the upcoming Olympics,” added Mirzazadeh.
However, the Iranian will still be facing a mammoth en route to the top podium in Paris as Kayaalp will surely come back stronger to chase a fourth Olympic medal, not to mention legendary Cuban Mijain Lopez will be after a record-extending fifth gold at the Games.
Milestone for Zare’?
The freestyle superheavyweight contest has been a three-horse race for the past three world events since the Tokyo Olympics, featuring Zare’, Petriashvili, and another Turkish great in Taha Akgül.
Zare’ who won an impressive bronze in Tokyo on his senior international debut, sharing the third podium with Akgül, went on to beat both the Turkish and Petriashvili – who have a remarkable 20 world and Olympic medals between them – to win the world gold in Oslo two years ago.
The 22-year-old Iranian looked to be on his way to a second successive top-spot finish last year but a semifinal wobble against Akgül saw Zare’ eventually settle for the bronze.
Zare’ bounced back in style this year as he defeated the two rivals without conceding a single point to leave the Serbian capital on a high note last week, and will have the upper hand against the two in Paris in less than 12 months.
Gable Steveson, who came out on top against Petriashvili in a thrilling final in Tokyo, embarked on a new career in professional wrestling after the Games but the prospect of a second Olympic gold could persuade the American to make a return to the mat next summer and pose a real threat to Zare’s gold bid in Paris.
Despite the World Championships being a campaign to forget for Iranian wrestling after relative setbacks for gold hopefuls Hassan Yazdani, Rahman Amouzad, and Mohammadreza Geraei, the country will still hope to build on Mirzazadeh’s and Zare’s success when seeking a first-ever superheavyweight gold in the history of the Olympic Games.
Retired wrestler Komeil Qassemi has an Olympic gold in his trophy cabinet, but he was only handed the ultimate prize of the 120kg category a decade after London 2012, thanks to positive doping test results for the initial top two Artur Taymazov and Davit Modzmanashvili.