UWW Ranking Series:
Keshtkar settles for Greco-Roman silver in Zagreb Open
Iranian wrestler Mohammad-Mahdi Keshtkar won a first Greco-Roman medal for the country at the Zagreb Open, taking a silver medal in the 63kg contests.
A gold medalist in last December’s National Championships, the 23-year-old Iranian overcame Uzbek opponents Aytjan Khalmakhanov (5-4) and Islomjon Bakhramov (10-1) to reach the final showpiece, before suffering a 10-0 defeat against Russian Dinislam Bammatov, who won a world under-23 silver last year in Tirana, Albania.
Keshtkar’s fellow-Iranian Erfan Jarkani, a world junior and U23 bronze medalist last year, finished his 63kg campaign empty-handed after a 3-1 loss to Bakhramov in the quarterfinals.
Elsewhere in the first UWW Ranking Series event of the international season, Iranian duo Ahmadreza Mohsennejad and Mohammadreza Gholami missed out on the podium in the 67kg event following defeats in the third-place bouts.
Mohsennejad was beaten 5-0 by Romanian Razvan Arnaut, while Gholami fell to a 10-1 loss to home-favorite Dominik Etlinger.
Haavard Joergensen of Norway grabbed the 67kg gold, thanks to a superiority win (9-1) against Moldovan Valentin Petic in the final.
Friday’s Greco-Roman results came after the Iranian 16-man squad had collected four golds and silvers apiece to finish runner-up to the United States in the freestyle competitions earlier in the Arena Zagreb.
Abbas Ebrahimzadeh (65kg), Amirhossein Firouzpour (92kg), and Amirreza Ma’soumi (125kg) walked away with the ultimate prize of their respective weight classes, while Ahmad Mohammadnejad-Javan came out on top against Ebrahim Khari in an all-Iranian 61kg final.
Abolfazl Babalou was beaten by American great Kyle Snyder in the 97kg final, with young prodigies Sina Khalili (70kg) and Mahdi Yousefi (79kg) adding a couple of silvers to Iran’s haul.