Azarpira beats Bazri to Iranian FS 97kg slot for World Championships
Freestyle wrestler Amir-Ali Azarpira secured his place in the Iranian 10-man squad for September’s World Championships in Zagreb, thanks to a 3-0 victory over Ahmad Bazri in the domestic 97kg decider in Tehran on Friday.
Azarpira, who had been sidelined with a torn ligament injury following an Olympic bronze-winning campaign in Paris last year, was given a shot at a place in the Croatian capital after returning to action at the Matteo Pellicone Memorial in Sassari, Italy, in June.
The defeat, meanwhile, came as a major disappointment for Bazri, who had excelled throughout the Iranian team’s selection process, grabbing the gold medals in May’s International Takhti Cup in Isfahan, and then the UWW Ranking Series event in Ulaanbaatar last month, before ultimately falling short against the 23-year-old Azarpira.
Azarpira took a 1-0 lead at the break, after Bazri was cautioned for passivity, and then scored a takedown in the second period to clinch the victory.
Azarpira – a two-time world under-23 gold medalist – is the eighth Iranian freestyle wrestler to punch his Zagreb ticket following reigning world champion Amirhossein Zare’ (125kg), Olympic silver medalist Rahman Amouzad (65kg), and two-time world champion Kamran Qassempour (86kg), as well as Ali Mo’meni (57kg), Ahmad Mohammadnejad-Javan (61kg), Younes Emami (74kg), and Amirhossein Firouzpour (92kg).
The 70kg and 79kg slots remain up for grabs and will be decided after the final Ranking Series event of the season – starting July 17 in Budapest, Hungary – where Abbas Ebrahimzadeh and Sina Khalili (70kg) plus Mahdi Yousefi and Fariborz Babaei (79kg) will have to walk away with the ultimate prize in their respective weight classes to stand a chance of a spot at the World Championships.