Iran coach Kaveh pleased with Iran’s ‘decent’ FS run in Paris
Iran’s freestyle head coach Mohsen Kaveh says he was satisfied with his men’s performance at the wrestling competitions of the Paris Olympics, though he admitted that the results “could have been better.”
The five-man squad collected three silver medals and a bronze, with Younes Emami leaving the Games empty-handed after a technical-fall defeat against American Kyle Dake in the 74kg quarterfinals, as Iran failed to a grab a freestyle gold in a second successive Olympics.
Hassan Yazdani’s quest for a second Olympic gold, which would have seen him become the most-decorated Iranian in the history of the Games, ended in vain following a 7-1 loss to Bulgaria’s Magomed Ramazanov in the 86kg final – during which the wrestling sensation struggled with a recurring shoulder injury from the get-go, calling for treatment on several occasions throughout the six minutes of action.
“I think the Iranian squad had a decent run in Paris, though the outcome could have been better, had it not been for some misfortune and unexpected incidents in the final showpieces,” Kaveh told IRNA.
“Yazdani’s injury was a real shock. He showed great courage and dedication to wrestle with one hand for five minutes. He had a neck-and-neck battle against Dauren Kurugliev in the quarterfinals and showed no signs of injury,” said the Iranian head coach, who believes Yazdani’s return to competitive action might have been premature.
“Yazdani had been sidelined for eight to nine months [after last October’s surgery] and worked so hard to make it to the Games, but the truth is that it takes one year for any wrestler to fully recover from the injury. I’m sure he would have easily won the gold if it wasn’t for the problem in the final as Kurugliev was a much more formidable wrestler than Ramazanov.”
Heading to Paris as the reigning world champion, Amirhossein Zare’ was the ultimate favorite to win the superheavyweight gold but the Iranian came short against familiar foe Geno Petriashvili of Georgia in a thrilling 125kg final.
Trailing 10-1 at the break, Zare’ fought back to cut the deficit to a single point though it proved too little too late.
“It was the worst day of his career as we expected Amirhossein to win the gold. I think the match officials played a significant part in Zare’s defeat. Petriashvili repeatedly hit Zare’ in the face and stopped the bout time and again as he clearly ran out of steam in the second period. The referee should have cautioned him to keep him from using the dark arts,” Kaveh said.
Having finished fifth in last year’s World Championships, Rahman Amouzad seemed to be back to his ruthless form for the Olympics, crushing two world champions in American Zain Retherford and Hungarian Ismail Musukaev, as well as European gold medalist Islam Dudaev of Albania to reach the 65kg final.
However, the 2022 world champion was the third Iranian to suffer a final loss – stunned 10-3 by low-profile Japanese Kotaro Kiyooka.
“The 65kg event featured eight world-class wrestlers and Rahman did great to reach the final, given the tough draw he faced,” Kaveh said, adding: “We knew Kotaro was not going to be an easy opponent for Rahman as he had beaten world and Olympic champion Takuto Otoguro in the Japanese Olympic trials. He did a magnificent job to keep Rahman at bay and made the most of his sloppiness in the first period to score the takedown. The defeat still takes nothing from Amouzad’s impressive campaign.”
Young prodigy Amir-Ali Azarpira was the surprise Iranian medalist in Paris, bouncing back from a first-round loss to eventual gold medalist Akhmed Tazhudinov to beat American great Kyle Snyder for the 97kg bronze.
“I think he even deserved to win the gold,” Kaveh said of the 22-year-old Iranian, whose impressive run over the past 12 months convinced the Iranian coaching staff to pick him over two-time world champion Kamran Qassempour for the Iranian 97kg slot in Paris.
“His bout against Tazhudinov could have gone either way. Amir-Ali was unlucky to lose after being in front until the final 37 seconds.”