New era for Iranian freestyle wrestling ahead of Olympics
Iranian freestyle wrestling will turn to a new page after Pejman Dorostkar stepped down from his role as the national team head coach last week, making way for Mohsen Kaveh to take over ahead of next year’s Paris Olympics.
With eight months to go before the opening ceremony in the French capital, the new coach, also an advisor to the chairman of the Iranian federation, Alireza Dabir, will have quite a job on his hands as three Olympic berths are yet to be secured for the country.
Amirhossein Zare’ (130kg) and Hassan Yazdani (86kg) have already sealed the Olympic quotas of their respective weight classes, thanks to their medal-winning campaigns in September’s World Championships, while Rahman Amouzad clinched the 65kg slot after finishing fifth in Belgrade.
However, the 57kg, 74kg, and 97kg spots will be up for grabs in the qualification events in the coming months.
“It was the hardest decision that I had to make, though I’ll be looking to succeed at the Olympics,” Kaveh said after his appointment.
“We only have eight months to prepare and I’ve already begun planning for the Games,” added the new head coach.
“I know expectations will be high of the freestyle team in Paris, but I’ll do all I can to avoid the mental pressure on the Iranian wrestlers for the Olympics.”
With the Americans and the Russians in impressive form in the latest UWW Worlds, Kaveh knows his men will have a mountain to climb to walk away with the ultimate prize in Paris.
In the Iranians’ eight bouts against either an American or a Russian opponent in Belgrade, only Amouzad managed to come out on top against Team USA’s Nick Lee, while last week’s final showdown of the Iranian Pro League saw the Iranians suffer five defeats against the Russians – including losses for Olympic contenders Alireza Sarlak and Younes Emami.
Sarlak fell to a 7-0 setback against reigning Olympic champion Zaur Uguev in the 57kg contest, before Emami, a two-time world silver medalist, was beaten 5-4 by Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov.
The other major challenge facing Kaveh will be the form of Yazdani before the Olympics, after the 86kg sensation underwent surgery on his injured shoulder in November and is set to spend up to six months on the sidelines.
A winner of a national-record nine world and Olympic medals, Yazdani had to cope with the shoulder problem through September’s World event, where he had yet another disappointing finish, by his own standards, after a fall defeat against his familiar foe David Taylor, which gave the American a 3-1 lead in the head-to-head battles with the Iranian in the recent four major finals – including the showdown at the Tokyo Olympics.
While Yazdani has promised to “come back to his best in the near future”, Dabir’s comments raised doubts over the wrestler’s condition ahead of his quest for a third Olympic medal.
“No wrestler in Iran has fully recovered from a shoulder injury over the past 20 years. That’s what happened to me as my career came to an end when I was 25,” said Dabir – an Olympic champion in Sydney 2000.
When Kaveh was asked about Yazdani’s situation back then, he said: “Hassan is in a league of his own and hard to replace. I’m sure he’ll put in all his efforts to make it to the Games.”
Kaveh still added there would be other alternatives for Yazdani, should he fail in the race against time for a proper challenge in Paris.
“Our priority will definitely be Yazdani but Ali Savadkouhi has recently moved up to the 86kg class and could be in contention, along with [former world silver and bronze medalist] Alireza Karimi as well as Hadi Vafaeipour,” Kaveh said in November.