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Wrestling World Championships:
Iran finds little consolation in Nokhodi’s bronze after late heartbreaks
While young Iranians Reza Mo’meni and Sina Khalili suffered last-eight exits in the 61kg and 70kg contests respectively, two-time world champion Kamran Qassempour missed out on the 92kg podium on his return to competitions following back-to-back defeats against two of the sport’s greats in Russian Abdulrashid Sadulaev and American David Taylor.
Nokhodi, a winner of double world silvers and a bronze, seemed to be on his way to a coveted 79kg gold when he finally pulled off an upset against legendary American Jordan Burroughs, who had denied the Iranian in the 2021 and 2022 finals, defeating the seven-time world and Olympic champion 6-4.
Standing between Nokhodi and a place in the final was Georgian Avtandil Kentchadze and the Iranian looked to be cruising to victory when he built up a 6-0 lead in the second period.
However, Kentchadze secured a takedown with 45 seconds remaining and wrapped up Nokhodi’s legs and then ripped off three lace-lock rolls.
Nokhodi halted the flow for a moment for a two-point exposure, but he also appeared to injure his knee during the exchange and the Georgian was able to easily add a pair of late takedowns to secure a 14-8 victory.
Nokhodi still managed to pull himself back together and, despite struggling with the knee problem, make a quick work of Japanese Kota Takahashi in the bronze-medal contest, delivering a masterclass of takedowns and gut wrenches for a superiority win (10-0) with 2:11 minutes to spare.
Nokhodi shared the third podium with Slovakia’s Achsarbek Gulajev, while Kentchadze went on to defeat Russian Magomed Magomaev, participating as a neutral athlete, 13-4 in the final.
In the 92kg contests, Qassempour, who stood behind Amir-Ali Azarpira in the pecking order for the Iranian 97kg slot at the Paris Olympics, looked to be back to top form in his familiar territory when he eased past opponents from Japan, Turkey, and Moldova to reach the quarterfinals.
Awaiting Qassempour in the last-eight round was two-time Olympic champion Sadulaev, who was chasing his sixth world gold and stepped onto the mat fresh from a first-round 7-0 hammering of Taylor.
Sadulaev went ahead 1-1 on criteria after each received an activity point before Qassempour found a way through and scored a double-leg takedown with 30 seconds left.
Qassempour looked to have done enough for a famous victory but the Russian sensation had other ideas as he snapped the Iranian down, spun behind, then managed to fling him to the mat for a four-point takedown with four seconds left on the clock.
The setback sent Qassempour into what was arguably the most important world bronze bout in the history of the Iranian wrestling against Taylor.
Iranian fans were eager to see Qassempour come out on top against the American, who holds a 3-1 head-to-head record against Qassempour’s compatriot Hassan Yazdani in four major 86kg finals and had announced that the tournament in Tirana would be his swan song.
Qassempour opened the scoring with a takedown while on the activity clock to lead 2-0 at the break before Taylor bounced back in the second period to score three takedowns, the last coming with two seconds left, to sign off with a world bronze.
Sadulaev, meanwhile, walked away with the ultimate prize, thanks to a 6-0 win against Georgia’s Miriani Maisuradze.
Elsewhere in the Feti Borova Sports Hall, Japan’s Masanosuke Ono ran riot against Ahmet Duman, defeating the Turkish wrestler by technical superiority to grab the 61kg gold, while Nurkozha Kaipanov of Kazakhstan beat Japanese Yoshinosuke Aoyagi 5-3 in the 70kg final.
Georgia and Japan shared the top spot in the team ranking with 55 points, with Iran in third on 41 points.
Iranians had more to cheer about in the Greco-Roman competitions earlier in Tirana as Mohammadali Geraei marched past Hungarian Erik Szilvássy (8-0) in the final to add the 82kg gold to his previous three world bronzes.
Pouria Dadmarz won a second successive world medal, a 55kg silver after a final defeat against Azerbaijan’s Eldaniz Azizli, as Iran collected 51 points to finish runner-up to Azerbaijan, which dominated with 85 points, courtesy of three golds across four weight categories.