Mirzazadeh, Farrokhi secure Iranian GR spots for Wrestling Worlds
Greco-Roman wrestlers Amin Mirzazadeh and Gholamreza Farrokhi booked a place in September’s World Championships in Zagreb, after coming out victorious against their respective opponents at the Iranian world trials in Shiraz on Friday.
A 130kg bronze medalist at last year’s Paris Olympics, Mirzazadeh edged out Asian and world under-23 champion Fardin Hedayati 2-1 and will be on course to defend his superheavyweight title at the upcoming world showpiece.
Hedayati had beaten Ali-Akbar Yousefi – world gold medalist in 2021 – 3-0 in the morning session to set the showdown against Mirzazadeh.
A gold medalist in February’s Zagreb Open, Farrokhi, meanwhile, stunned Mohammad-Ali Geraei twice to make sure he will return to the Croatian capital in September.
Needing two victories against the reigning world champion to secure the 82kg spot, Farrokhi, who had beaten Asian champion Mohammad Naqousi 4-2 in the morning session, repeated the scoreline in the first bout against Geraei, before cruising to an emphatic 6-0 victory to punch his Zagreb ticket.
Joined by Mirzazadeh and Farrokhi in the Iranian 10-man Greco-Roman squad are Olympic champions Saeid Esmaeili (67kg) and Mohammad-Hadi Saravi (97kg) plus Asian gold medalist Danial Sohrabi (72kg), two-time world under-20 champion Alireza Abdevali (77kg), and Alireza Mohamadi (87kg), who will be chasing a first world gold medal in Zagreb, having grabbed impressive silvers at the 2023 edition and Paris Olympics.
Iran head coach Hassan Rangraz is undecided on the 55kg, 60kg, and 63kg weight classes following a poor run of results for the Iranian contestants at the Ulaanbaatar Open and Benur Pashayan Tournament in Yerevan.
Meanwhile, Iranian trio Mahdi Ahadi (55kg), Sajjad Abbaspour (60kg), and former world champion Meysam Dalkhani (63kg) emerged as new contenders for a spot in Zagreb after grabbing the gold medal of their respective events at the International Takhti Cup in Shiraz.