Rangraz tips Geraei to flourish in new weight class
Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestling head coach, Hassan Rangraz, is confident Mohammadreza Geraei will excel in the new weight class despite his latest setback at the World Championships.
Geraei, who missed out on defending his Olympic title after a defeat against Saeid Esmaeili in the Iranian 67kg trials for the Paris Games in August, moved up to the 72kg class but got off to disappointing start to the new chapter of his career.
Chasing a fourth successive world medal in in last week’s competition in Tirana, Geraei fell to a shock 11-3 loss to Benji Peak in the first round and finished his campaign empty-handed, though many believe some contentious decisions by the referees cost the former world champion dearly against the American underdog.
“This was Geraei’s first international event in the 72kg class. There is no doubt he had technical flaws against the American wrestler, but let’s not forget that he already has four precious world and Olympic medals under his belt and remains highly motivated to succeed in the new category,” Rangraz told ISNA.
“It might have been a bit too late, but he still made the right decision to change the weight class and I’m confident he has much more to offer in the future World Championships before gradually moving to the 77kg class for the next Olympic Games,” added the Iranian head coach, who believes Geraei will face stiff competition from up-and-coming Iranian wrestlers in the 72kg class, including former world under-23 champion Danial Sohrabi.
Unlike his younger brother, Mohammadali Geraei, who also moved up to a new class for the World Championships, will look back on the competitions in the Albanian capital with great joy.
A three-time world bronze medalist prior to the event, Geraei, 30, walked away with the ultimate prize of the 82kg contests in emphatic fashion, storming to a 9-0 victory over Hungarian Erik Szilvassy in the final.
Geraei must fill lucky to have had a shot at a fourth world medal.
In November last year, the United World Wrestling banned him for 12 months due to an incident in last year’s World Championships, when he threw a bottle of mineral water on the mat during his brother’s last-eight clash, presumably trying to buy Mohammadreza some time to restore stamina against Japanese wrestler Kyotaro Sogabe, before the Iranian held on to win 11-10.
However, the international governing body of the sport went on to lift the ban in February, though Geraei still failed to make a late tilt at a place in the Summer Olympics.
“Mohammadali endured a tough couple of years but all the patience paid off as he achieved his goal. I was always worried he would suffer the same fate as [former Iranian freestyle wrestler] Reza Yazdani, who despite his great merits, never won an Olympic medal,” Rangraz said.
“I’m thrilled to see him finally get what he deserved. Mohammadali had a world title and an Olympic medal missing in his collection, and thank God he added one of them to his medal haul. We will definitely come up with the right plan to prepare him for the Olympics in four-years’ time.”
Pouria Dadmarz and Iman Mohammadi were the other two Greco-Roman Iranians in action at the World Championships – featuring four non-Olympic categories – with the former settling for the 55kg silver, while the latter was knocked out in the 63kg quarterfinals.
“I was glad to see Dadmarz improve on his world bronze in last year’s competitions. He has a bright prospect for the next four years, given his performance in Tirana. He gave it his all in the final but just couldn’t get the better of [four-time world champion] Eldaniz Azizli of Azerbaijan,” Rangraz said of the former world junior champion.
“Mohammadi also deserved to finish on the podium. I think the referee should have been more decisive in his last-eight bout [against Russian Sadyk Lalaev]. Iman has a great body for an amateur wrestler but he still struggles when he is in a par terre position, which is an area he needs to work on.”