Asian U20 Wrestling Championships:
Iran targets double team crowns in Bishkek
Iran will be aiming for yet another clean sweep of the men’s team titles when the Asian U20 Wrestling Championships kick off in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Wednesday.
Around 300 of young talents in the continent will vie for success at the competition, which will begin with the Greco-Roman event, followed by the women’s wrestling, before the freestyle contests close off the championships on Sunday.
Iranian boys collected a remarkable 11 golds, three silvers, and four bronze medals across 20 weight classes to beat Kazakhstan to both Greco-Roman and freestyle team trophies in Sriracha, Thailand, last year.
Abolfazl Fat’hi will headline the Iranian Greco-Roman squad in the Kyrgyz capital, defending his title in the 130kg contests.
Joining Fat’hi in the 10-man squad are Payam Ahmadi (55kg), Seyyed Iman Hosseini (60kg), Mohammad Aboutalebi (63kg), Gholamreza Abdevali (67kg), Amir-Mahdi Saeidi-Nava (72kg), Ahoura Bouveiri (77kg), Alireza Mohammad-Hosseini (82kg), Hamidreza Keshtkar (87kg), and Mohammad-Hadi Seydi (97kg).
Abolfazl Rahmani (86kg) – a silver medalist last year – will be the Iranian to watch in the freestyle contests, having won a gold medal in March’s Asian Senior Championships after picking up the world U20 bronze last September.
Former world U17 bronze winner Erfan Alizadeh, meanwhile, will be looking to build on an impressive silver medal in February’s Ranking Series event, when representing the country in the 97kg weight class.
Reigning world and Asian cadet champion Abolfazl Shamsipour will be the top favorite in the 79kg event.
Ebrahim Elahi (70kg) – a world cadet champion in 2022 – will be eager to improve on his Asian U20 silver in 2023, with Tohid Nouri competing in the 92kg contests on the back of a world under-17 bronze in Istanbul two years ago.
With a 2023 world cadet silver under his belt, Sajjad Pirdayeh will be a top contender in the 65kg class, while Mohammadreza Lotfi (125kg) will be looking to add the superheavyweight glory to his Asian cadet gold.
Arshia Haddadi (57kg) – a bronze medalist at the 2022 U17 Worlds – Abolfazl Bakhshoudeh (61kg), and Mohammad Mamivand (74kg) complete the Iranian freestyle lineup in Bishkek.