Wrestling U17 Asian Championships:
Iranian young guns crowned freestyle champion
Iranian wrestlers claimed the freestyle title at the U17 Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan.
The Iranian 10-man squad collected five gold medals and double bronzes to stand atop the team table with 183 points, followed by Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, which tallied 156 and 151 respectively.
Sam Arshad, Aryan Mehr-Alizadeh, and Amir-Reza Alipour brought the curtain down on a glorious campaign for the country on Tuesday, walking away with the ultimate prize of their respective weight classes.
Representing Iran in the 51kg event, Arshad overcame opponents from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan before defeating Nurtilek Zamirbekov of Kyrgyzstan 4-1 in the final showpiece.
A second final featuring Iranian and Kyrgyz wrestlers saw Mehr-Alizadeh beat Kursantbek Isakov 3-1 for the 55kg gold, while Alipour rounded off a dominant 92kg run with a technical-superiority victory (10-0) over Zhenyu Yang of China for the gold.
Elsewhere, Amirabbas Ramezani and Amirabbas Alizadeh managed to leave the Jordanian capital with a couple of consolation bronzes.
Beaten by Uzbekistan’s Jurabek Rakhmonov in a 45kg quarterfinal, Ramezani outmuscled Japanese Kenta Sakakihara 10-0 in the repechage battled and then defeated the host’s Omar Ishaq Musleh with the same scoreline to share the third podium with Bekzat Amangeldy of Kazakhstan.
Alizadeh, meanwhile, bounced back from a semifinal 8-6 setback against Indian Vishal Shilimkar to hammer Mongolian Budsaikhan Yandag 10-0 in the third-place bout of the 48kg contests.
The final-day results came after Abolfazl Shamsipour and Reza Afshar had bagged a couple of golds for the Iranian squad on the preceding night.
Shamsipour beat Indian Nishant Ruhil 4-1 for the 71kg gold, with Afshar defeating Uzbek Bunyod Rufatov 4-0 for the 80kg gold.
Yasin Khosro Tayyebi (60kg), Amir-Ali Valipour (65kg), and Abolfazl Mohammadnejad (110kg) were the other members of the team, who were unlucky to finish their campaigns empty-handed, though they still contributed to the team title with a combined 28 points.
Earlier in the under-17 championships, the Iranian Greco-Roman squad had made a clean sweep of 10 medals but settled for a runner-up finish behind Uzbekistan in the team table.
Abolfazl Karami (51kg), Emadreza Mohsennejad (80kg), and Danial Izadi (92kg) grabbed three gold medals, with Ahmad Badraddini (45kg), Alireza Amiri (48kg), Amir-Mahdi Saeidi Nava (67kg), and Mohammad Kazemi (71kg) adding four silvers to Iran’s medal haul.
Amir-Ali Heidari (55kg), Abolfazl Shiri (60kg), and Ayoub Hosseinvand (110kg) left the Jordanian capital with three consolation bronzes as Iran tallied 200 points.
Uzbekistan notched up 215 points, thanks to a remarkable five golds, as well as three silvers and double bronzes, while third-place Kazakhstan finished on 148 points with a single gold, two silvers, and three bronze medals.