Asian U20 Wrestling Championships:
Iranians bag nine medals to clinch Greco-Roman title
Iranian Greco-Roman team dominated the Asian U20 Wrestling Championships, notching up a remarkable nine medals – including four golds – across 10 weight classes to lift the team trophy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Thursday.
The impressive medal haul saw Iran finish atop the team table with 185 points, with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the following spots, collecting 166 and 151 points, respectively.
Mohammad-Hadi Seydi brought the curtain down on a glittering campaign for the Iranian boys by defeating South Korean Jaeno Choi in emphatic fashion (9-0) to walk away with the ultimate prize of the 97kg category.
Seydi’s triumph secured the sole gold medal for the country on Thursday, with Seyyed Iman Hosseini (60kg), Gholamreza Abdevali (67kg), and Amir-Mahdi Saeidinava (72kg) settling for a joint-bronze medal in their respective classes.
Alireza Mohammad-Hosseini was the only Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler to leave Bishkek empty-handed, finishing fifth in the 82kg division.
The preceding day in the Kyrgyz capital, however, proved much more prolific for the Iranian squad with triple gold medals and double bronzes.
Payam Ahmadi defeated opponents from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to progress to the final, before beating the host’s Kutman Kalbaev 6-1 for the 55kg gold.
Ahoura Bouveiri rounded off an emphatic run in the 77kg contests by outmuscling Omar Duisembek of Kazakhstan 15-6 in the final showpiece.
Abolfazl Fat’hi, meanwhile, defended his superheavyweight title in style as the Iranian claimed back-to-back superiority wins without conceding a single point to reach the final before inflicting a pinfall defeat – while leading 2-1 – on Uzbekistan’s Amirkhon Berdikulov to grab the 130kg gold.
Mohammad-Javad Talebi (63kg) and Hamdireza Keshtkar (87kg) bounced back from last-four defeats in their respective events to add a couple of bronzes to Iran’s medal haul.
The freestyle competitions kick off today in Bishkek, where Arshia Haddadi (57kg), Sajjad Pirdayeh (65kg), Ebrahim Elahi (70kg), Abolfazl Shamsipour (79kg), and Erfan Alizadeh (97kg) will be in action across different classes.
Abolfazl Bakhshoudeh (61kg), Mohammad Mamivand (74kg), Asian senior champion Abolfazl Rahmani (86kg), Tohid Nouri (92kg), and Mohammadreza Lotfi (125kg) will get their campaigns underway on Sunday.