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Iran Greco-Roman team edges out Russia in PWL7
Iranian Greco-Roman team walked away with a 21-19 victory over Russia at the Poddubny Wrestling League 7 in Moscow.
It all went down the wire at the superheavyweight contest, where reigning world champion Amin Mirzazadeh beat the host’s Sergey Semenov to make it tied at 5-5, though it was enough to give Hassan Rangraz’s 10-man squad a technical-point edge in the friendly head-to-head – named after late Soviet wrestler Ivan Poddubny.
Russians got off to a flying start on home soil, taking a 2-0 advantage through Emin Sefershaev and Dinislam Bammatov.
Sefershaev defeated Pouya Dadmarz 2-1 in the 55kg bout, making amends for the last-four loss to the Iranian in October’s World Championships, while world under-23 silver medalist Bammatov came out victorious over Ali Ahmadi Vafa – a winner of double world age-group titles this year – 7-1 in the 60kg contest.
Former world U23 and junior champion Iman Mohammadi got Iran off the mark, thanks to a 4-0 win over Anvar Allakhiarov in the 63kg clash, before Saeid Esmaeili produced another thrilling performance, reminiscent of his gold-winning campaign at the Paris Olympics, to outclass Ruslan Bichurin by technical superiority (9-1) in the 67kg bout.
Representing Iran in the 72kg event, Mohammadreza Geraei gave the country a first overall advantage of the evening with a criteria win (1-1) against European bronze medalist Narek Oganian, but Sergey Kutuzov defeated Ali Oskou 6-2 in the 77kg class to draw the host level.
A controversy-ridden 82kg contest, which was interrupted by lengthy video reviews on a couple of occasions, saw world champion Mohammadali Geraei rally past Islam Aliev 7-6.
An Olympic silver medalist in August, Alireza Mohmadi was stunned 5-2 by Milad Alirzaev in their 87kg encounter, and Artur Sargsian outmuscled Mahdi Bali 7-1 in the penultimate bout (97kg) to put Russia in front.
The visitors, however, had the last laugh when Mirzazadeh came from behind to defeat the European 130kg champion on criteria (2-2) and secure the team triumph for Iran.