Yasar Dogu & Vehbi Emre wrestling tournament:
Saravi, Dadmarz grab golds as Iran claims seven medals
Iranian wrestlers Mohammad-Hadi Saravi and Pouya Dadmarz bagged a couple of golds at the Yasar Dogu & Vehbi Emre wrestling tournament as the country collected seven medals at the Greco-Roman contests in Antalya, Turkey.
An all-Iranian final on Thursday saw three-time world medalist Saravi come out on top against reigning Asian champion Mahdi Bali by a 5-1 scoreline to walk away with the ultimate prize of the 97kg weight class.
A gold medalist at the 2021 Wrestling Worlds, Saravi will be looking to improve on his Olympic bronze three years ago when taking part in the Paris Games in the summer.
Meanwhile, Dadmarz – A bronze medalist in last September’s World Championships – defeated opponents from Japan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan before a 5-2 victory over Giorgi Tokhadze of Georgia in the final showdown.
Mohammad-Hadi Sha’bani was the other Iranian in the 55kg competitions but finished his campaign empty-handed after a second-round loss to Russian Vitalii Kabaloev.
In the 130kg event, world champion Amin Mirzazadeh came out victorious against Russian wrestlers either side of a 10-0 win against the host’s Burak Cakirca but pulled out of the final encounter against Matti Elias Kuosmanen with a knee problem as the Finnish wrestler was handed the gold, while young Iranian Fardin Hedayati – beaten by Kuosmanen in the semifinals – went on to win a consolation bronze.
The outcome in Antalya secured the Paris ticket for Mirzazadeh with Hedayati representing the country in April’s Asian Championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Elsewhere, one of the 82kg semifinals featured two fellow-Iranians in Rasoul Garmsiri and Abbas Mahdizadeh, with the former claiming a thrilling 8-5 triumph to head into the final, though he eventually settled for a silver following a 5-3 defeat against Belarusian Stanislau Shafarenka.
Mahdizadeh, meanwhile, left Antalya with a consolation bronze, thanks to a walkover victory over Yunus Emre Basar.