U17 World Wrestling Championships:
Iran misses out on gold as freestyle title remains elusive
The Iranian freestyle squad had to settle for a runner-up finish behind the United States for a second year running at the U17 World Wrestling Championships, following a goldless run across 10 weight classes in Athens, Greece.
A medal haul of five silvers and double bronzes saw Iran collect 150 points – four adrift of Team USA, which bagged four golds, one silver, and two bronzes.
Kazakhstan, meanwhile, pipped Azerbaijan by one point to finish third with 91 points.
Parsa Tahmasbi and Arsham Vahabian fell short against American opponents in the final showpiece of their respective events on the final day, though a victory for Amirali Alizadeh against Russian David Dzebisov – competing as a neutral athlete – in the 92kg final would have still propelled Iran to 155 points and the team title.
Dzebisov, however, had other ideas and scored the first takedown to lead 2-0 before Alizadeh bounced back in the second period to make it 2-2 and lead on criteria.
The Iranian was then caught in a tangle with Dzebisov who managed to finish on top and score two points before a desperate Alizadeh gave away another two points in the closing stages and lost 6-2.
Tahmasbi, meanwhile, was undone by American Keegan Bassett inside the first period of the 45kg showdown.
Bassett got the first takedown to lead 2-0 and then a turn made it 4-0 before the American got another takedown and kept Tahmasbi’s back on the mat to secure a fall victory.
In a second Iranian-American final on Sunday, Vahabian suffered a 9-2 loss to Jayden James, which saw the US leapfrog Iran in the team table for the first time throughout the freestyle competitions.
Elsewhere on the final day, Iranian Arian Mehralizadeh missed out on a podium-finish in the 60kg contest after a comprehensive defeat (9-0) against Kazakhstan’s Bekassyl Assambek.
Sunday’s results came after Iran had bagged four medals on the preceding night in the freestyle event.
Sina Boustani fell to a superiority defeat (12-1) against American Ariah Mills in the 48kg final, while Mohammadparsa Karami settled for the 80kg silver following a 3-1 setback against Ukraine’s Artur Kostiuk.
In the 65kg division, Morteza Hajmollamohammadi rallied from behind with seconds left to beat Indian Gourav Punia on criteria (8-8) for the 65kg bronze, with Amirhossein Naqdalipour making a quick work of Georgian Murtaz Bagdavadze, securing a superiority win (11-0) in the first period, to finish with a consolation bronze in the 110kg category.
Sina Ordou (51kg) and Mohammadreza Barari (55kg) left the Greek capital empty-handed.
Earlier at the U17 Worlds, Iran had lifted a fourth successive team trophy in the Greco-Roman competitions.
Represented by nine wrestlers after Abolfazl Shiri (65kg) was denied an entry visa by the host country, Iran had only two finalists across 10 classes but still managed to pip Uzbekistan to the team title.
Amirsam Mohammadi won the 92kg gold and Yazdan Delrouz took the 110kg silver, with Mohammadhossein Kazemi (71kg), Amirmohammad Hajivand (48kg), Abolfazl Zare’ (60kg), and Amirreza Tahmasbpour (55kg) collecting four bronzes as Iran stood atop the table with 125 points.
Uzbekistan impressed with four gold medals but had to settle for a runner-up finish with 118 points.
Kazakhstan finished third with 113 points, with Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan – tied on 100 points – in fourth and fifth, respectively.