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Freestyle fightback as Iran completes double over Russia in PWL7
The triumph came after the Iranian Greco-Roman team had also edged out the wrestling powerhouse 21-19, despite a 5-5 deadlock, in the event – named after late Soviet wrestler Ivan Poddubny – on the preceding night.
The freestyle contest was decided by an even more razor-thin margin as Iran only managed to emerge victorious thanks to a 2-1 record in superiority wins, though Pejman Dorostkar’s 10-man squad still had to overcome a 5-0 deficit.
Former world silver medalist Magomedrasul Idrisov handed the host a first win of the night, beating Ali Mo’meni 3-0 in the 57kg bout, before Zaur Uguev, an Olympic champion in Tokyo, doubled Russians’ lead with a 5-1 win against Reza Mo’meni in the 61kg clash.
A thrilling 65kg contest saw Russia’s Shamil Mamedov come out on top against Olympic silver winner Rahman Amouzad 10-7, and then Kurban Shiraev beat Sina Khalili 5-2 in the 70kg bout.
Four-time world and Olympic champion Zaurbek Sidakov dominated Amir-Mohammad Yazdani 12-1 in their 74kg encounter to put Russia on the cusp of team victory, but the rest of the Iranian squad had other ideas.
Fresh from an under-23 world title in October, Mahdi Yousefi got Iran off the mark with a massive 7-5 victory over Magomed Magomaev in the 79kg meeting, despite trailing the world silver medalist by four points with less than 40 seconds left on the clock.
Two-time world champion Kamran Qassempour also had to come from behind to beat Ibragim Kadiev 8-5 in the 86kg class and find a little consolation after finishing October’s World Championships with a loss to American David Taylor in the bronze-medal contest.
Amirhossein Firouzpour – also a gold medalist in last month’s under-23 world event – rallied past Magomed Kurbanov 5-4 in a 97kg clash marked by refereeing controversy, with Dorostkar threatening to withdraw the Iranian wrestler after his challenge was rejected by a lengthy video review.
Mojtab Goleij conceded the first point for caution against Samdan Bady Maadyr in the 97kg bout but went on to finish off the Russian with an 11-1 rout, meaning it all went down to the wire in the 125kg clash, featuring Amirhossein Zare’ and Shamil Musaev.
A winner of five world and Olympic medals, Zare’ was caught off guard by a Musaev’s early single-leg takedown but again proved to be in a league of his own in the superheavyweight class, easing to a superiority win (12-2) with 50 seconds remaining.
Zare’s victory leveled the overall scoreline at 21-all but the emphatic wins in the final two bouts saw Iran ultimately come out on top.