U20 Wrestling World Championships:
Yousefi ends Iran’s gold drought in Samokov
Mahdi Yousefi gave Iran something to cheer about amid an otherwise dire freestyle campaign at the U20 Wrestling World Championships by securing the country’s first gold medal in Samokov, Bulgaria.
However, there was further misery for Iran – winner of three freestyle team trophies over the past four editions – on Tuesday as Arshia Haddadi, Aliasghar Tat, and Tohid Nouri all finished empty-handed in their respective weight classes.
Yousefi defeated American William Henckel 8-6 to walk away with the ultimate prize in the 79kg contests – a second medal for the Iranian at the U20 Worlds following last year’s bronze in Pontevedra, Spain.
The Iranian built a commanding 8-2 lead in the second period and then held off a late surge by Henckel to round off a prolific 10 month in his career, which began with the world under-23 title in Tirana last October.
Yousefi had an impressive breakthrough in senior wrestling earlier this year by collecting a Ranking Series silver and bronze, either side of a gold-winning performance at the Asian Championships in March, though he ultimately missed out on a place in the Iranian squad for September’s World Championships in Zagreb.
The Iranian prodigy began his campaign in Samokov with emphatic victories over Moldovan Ion Laurențiu Marcu (10-0) and Armenia’s Narek Nikoghosyan (8-0, technical fall) and then beat Turkmenistan’s Alp Arslan Begenjow 6-4 for a place in the semifinals.
A thrilling last-four clash saw the Iranian outmuscle Russian Said Saidulov, who participated as a neutral athlete, 15-7 to set a final date with Henckel.
Meanwhile, Haddadi recovered from a first-round setback (6-1) against Russian Magomed Ozdamirov to rout Bulgaria’s Esad Bozali by technical superiority in the 57kg repechage but was undone by Kyrgyzstan’s Baiaman Kerimbekov (5-4) and failed to reach the third-place bout.
Elsewhere, a 10-9 defeat against Russian wrestler Amal Dzhandubaev ended Tat’s 65kg campaign in the round of 16.
Nouri was forced to retire from the quarterfinal clash with Gadzhimurad Gadzhibatyrov due to a rib injury, while trailing the Russian 3-1.
Tuesday’s results came after Iran had managed to win a silver and bronze across four weight classes the previous night.
Abolfazl Mohammadnejad had to settle for a silver medal in the 125kg contests following a 4-1 loss to Kazakhstan’s Yedige Kassimbek, while Ebrahim finished with a consolation bronze in the 70kg category.
Elahi bounced back from a last-four criteria defeat (2-2) against American Peter John Duke to beat France’s Abdoullah Nakaev 6-4 and share the third podium with Nurlan Aghazada of Azerbaijan.
Erfan Alizadeh – an Asian U20 champion in July – crashed out in the round of 16 following a 7-5 loss to Nikolaos Karavanos of Greece in the 97kg class, with Mohammad-Mahdi Mamivand also missing out on the podium in the 74kg event – courtesy of a 9-8 setback against Italian Raul Caso in the last 16.
The freestyle competition will be followed by the women’s wrestling event in Samokov, before the Iranian Greco-Roman squad begins its bid for a fourth successive team title at the U20 Worlds on Friday.