U20 Wrestling World Championships:
Iranian young guns aiming for glory in Sofia
Iran will once again be among the hot favorites for team trophies when the U20 World Championships get underway in Sofia on August 17.
Iranian wrestlers will chase a sixth Greco-Roman title – fourth in a row – in eight editions, and the freestyle squad will be looking to improve on last year’s runner-up finish to the United States in Pontevedra, Spain.
Payam Ahmadi will be the Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler in the 55kg weight class, having won the Asian junior gold in Bishkek last month, with Mohammad-Amin Abdelvali vying for success in the 60kg class.
Mohammad-Javad Aboutalebi (63kg) and Gholamreza Abdevali (67kg) will head to the Bulgarian capital on the back of Asian bronze medals in their respective classes in July.
Ahmadreza Mohammadian, a world cadet silver medalist in 2023, will be a contender for the 72kg glory, while Ahoura Bouveiri will be among the wrestlers to watch in the 77kg class after he won a world under-17 silver in 2022.
Former world under-17 bronze medalists Hamed Azarshab and Hamidreza Keshtkar will aim for another age-group success when representing the country in the 82kg and 87kg events respectively.
Reigning Asian champion Mohammad-Hadi Seydi will be a medal hopeful in the 97kg division, while Abolfazl Fat’hi – a silver medalist last year – will compete in the 130kg contests, fresh off back-to-back Asian superheavyweight titles.
In the freestyle competitions, Arshia Haddadi will be looking to build on July’s Asian bronze in the 57kg class, with 2023 world U17 champion Ahoura Khateri desperate to make up for his below-par performance in last year’s world cadet event when beginning his campaign in the 61kg category.
Aliasghar Tathashtikeh will be part of the 65kg draw, and Asian junior gold medalists Ebrahim Elahi and Mohammad-Mahdi Mamivand will represent Iran in the 70kg and 74kg classes, respectively.
World U23 champion Mahdi Yousefi will be the contestant to beat in the 79kg event after he enjoyed an impressive run in the senior competitions in recent months, winning a precious silver in February’s Ranking Series event in Zagreb before grabbing the gold at the Asian Championships in March.
Abolfazl Rahmani will also be a favorite for the ultimate prize in the 86kg class, following gold-winning campaigns at the Asian senior and junior championships over the past five months.
Former world cadet bronze winner Tohid Noori (92kg), and Asian U20 champion Erfan Alizadeh (97kg), who won a Ranking Series silver in February, will chase another age-group medal in Sofia, while the country will hope to see another superheavyweight prodigy is introduced in the 125kg class when Abolfazl Mohammadnejad – a world U17 bronze winner – lock horns with his opponents.
Around 650 wrestlers are expected to compete across the men’s and women’s competitions in Sofia, with the freestyle event kicking off the tournament – followed by women’s wrestling – before the Greco-Roman event brings the curtain down on the showpiece on August 24.