Greco-Roman Wrestling National Championships:
Mohmedi draws first blood against Alizadeh; Hedayati outmuscles Yousefi
Iranian wrestler Alireza Mohmedi will be looking to go all the way to represent the country at next year’s Paris Olympics after coming out on top against Nasser Alizadeh in the Greco-Roman Wrestling National Championships.
All eyes were on the 87kg final at the event in Qom – serving as the first round of the national team trials – as to who would take advantage in the race to be the Iranian contender for an Olympic berth.
It was Mohmedi who built on a world 82kg silver-winning run in September to walk away with a thrilling 5-4 victory over his opponent – the Asian 87kg champion for the past three years and runner-up in October’s Asian Games.
The fate of the weight class is far from settled as both will still have to take part in several Olympic qualification tournaments in the coming months but Thursday’s victory surely gave Mohmedi a slight edge over Alizadeh, who was part of the Iranian squad at the World Championships in Belgrade – knocked out in the quarterfinals.
The other highly-anticipated showdown came in the 130kg contests, where superheavyweight prodigy and reigning world under-20 champion Fardin Hedayati outpowered the 2021 world senior champion Ali-Akbar Yousefi 4-1 for the ultimate prize.
Friday’s triumph means Hedayati will likely be given a shot at the Asian glory in April, though Amin Mirzazadeh is all but guaranteed a superheavyweight place in Paris after his world gold in the Serbian capital sealed the Olympic slot for the country.
Meanwhile, with veteran Mohammad-Ali Geraei serving a one-year ban over the bottle-throwing incident in Belgrade, questions remain over the Iranian 77kg slot for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers.
Amir Abdi defeated Ali Oskou 3-2 in Thursday’s final to throw down the gauntlet to Amin Kavianinejad, who was absent in the National Championships due to his runner-up finish at the Asian Games.
Elsewhere, Mohammad-Mahdi Gholampour dominated the 60kg contests, cruising to a technical-fall victory over Mahdi Javaheri in the final, and will join Mahdi Mohsennejad in the national team training camp ahead of the Olympic qualifiers.
In the absence of the world 67kg sensation Mohammadreza Geraei, local boy Mohammad-Javad Rezaei made the most of the opportunity to make a quick work of Armin Moheb-Sabet in less than two minutes for the gold.
Still, the younger of the Geraei brothers, who had to settle for a consolation bronze in Belgrade, will be leading the charge for Iran in the weight division as he will be chasing a second successive Olympic gold next August.
In the 97kg event, Asian champion Mahdi Bali came out victorious (3-1) against Amir-Reza Akbari in the final, though he will likely stand second in the pecking order behind Mohammad-Hadi Saravi – a winner of a world gold and double bronzes, who will be eager to add a second Olympic medal to his Tokyo bronze.
In the non-Olympic competitions, Mohammad-Mahdi Sha’bani marched to a 9-0 triumph over Mohammad Hosseinvand in the 55kg final, while Meysam Dalkhani – world champion in 2021 – defeated Erfan Jarkani 8-5 for the 63kg gold.
Mohammadreza Rostami eased past Mohammad Elyasi (11-3) for the 72kg crown, with Rasoul Garmsiri grabbing the 82kg gold at the expense of Abbas Mahdizadeh.
Having already secured seven Greco-Roman and freestyle spots for the Olympics, Iran hopes to make a clean sweep of 12 berths before heading to Paris.
Freestyle wrestlers Amirhossein Zare’ (125kg) and Hassan Yazdani (86kg) finished on the podium in Belgrade, while Rahman Amouzad, despite the failure in defending his world 65kg title, managed to finish fifth to book a third freestyle spot for the country.
Kamran Qassempour missed out on the National Championships in mid-December with an injury, but has been given a second chance by the coaching staff at the Zagreb Open, where he will represent the country – alongside reigning Iranian champion Amir-Ali Azarpira – in the 97kg event, as he will be looking to add the Olympic glory to his double world 92kg golds in 2021 and 2022.
A gold winner in the National Championships, Hossein Abouzari and world 79kg silver winner Mohammad Nokhodi will be the frontrunners in chasing the 74kg quota for Iran, while Ahmad Mohammadnejad Javan will be keen to build on a dominant 57kg campaign in the national event – featuring a final victory over former world silver medalist Alireza Sarlak – to punch a ticket for Paris.