Wrestling U23 World Championships:
Iran’s world junior champions given a shot at glory in Tirana
Iranian gold medalists at the recently-finished Wrestling U20 World Championships will be rewarded with a place in October’s U23 Worlds in Tirana, Albania, Ebrahim Mehrban, the secretary of the national governing body of the sport, confirmed.
A total of four gold medals across 10 weight classes helped the Iranian Greco-Roman team win a fifth world junior title in a row in Pontevedra, Spain, in early September, while the freestyle squad won three golds but missed out on the team crown for the first time since 2019, finishing second to Team USA.
Ali Ahmadi Vafa outmuscled American Isaiah Cortez for the Greco-Roman 55kg gold, with Mohammad Gholampour triumphant in the 60kg class thanks to a final win against Turkey’s Servet Angı.
Ahmadreza Mohsennejad (67kg) and Alireza Abdevali (77kg) will also be given a shot at a second age-group glory after walking away with the ultimate prize of their respective events in Spain, as Iran will eye a third Greco-Roman under-23 title on its return to the competition, having missed out on last year’s edition – also hosted by Tirana – due to visa issues.
In the freestyle contests, Amirreza Ma’soumi was again in a league of his own in the junior superheavyweight class, bagging a fifth world age-group gold in three years, and will be the clear favorite to win a second world under-23 gold when headlining the Iranian squad in the Albanian capital.
Ali Rezaei’s gold-winning campaign also punched his Tirana ticket, but Ali Khorramdel – champion in the 65kg contests – will still have to take on fellow-Iranian Abbas Ebrahimzadeh in a domestic trial for a place in the team.
The Iranian freestyle team will be looking to improve on the runner-up finishes in the previous three involvements in the world under-23 event.