Wrestling World Championships:
Iranians bag double bronzes, Azarpira stuns Tazhudinov
Iran’s Mohammad Nokhodi and Amirhossein Firouzpour finished with consolation bronzes at the Wrestling World Championships, taking the country’s freestyle medal count to five by the end of the Day 3 of the competition in Zagreb Croatia.
However, the pinnacle of Monday’s action for Iran came in the 97kg semifinals, where Amirali Azarpira outmuscled reigning world and Olympic champion Akhmed Tazhudinov, 5-2, ending the Russian-born Bahraini wrestler’s two-year unbeaten streak.
Tazhudinov burst on to the wrestling scene with stunning victories over Kyle Snyder and Abdulrashid Sadulaev to grab the world gold in 2023, and followed that up with the ultimate prize at the Paris Olympics last summer.
During this two-year reign, Azarpira was the only wrestler who came close to beating Tazhudinov. The two squared off in Paris, with the Iranian giving up a three-point lead in the second period to lose 4-3.
There was no such comeback in the second period on Monday. Azarpira took a 2-0 lead with two stepouts but Tazhudinov took criteria lead with a takedown, before Azarpira kept his calm and scored a stepout to make it 3-2.
Tazhudinov tried reaching for Azarpira’s legs with his long reach but the Iranian seemed in no trouble at all defending his advantage. After one of Tazhudinov’s attack, he scored a go-behind and won the bout 5-2.
Meanwhile, Rahman Amouzad – a silver medalist at the Paris Games – stayed on course for a second world gold after defeating Iranian-born Canadian wrestler Peyman Biabani 5-0 in the 65kg last four, setting up a final date with Japanese Kotaro Kiyooka in a repeat of last year’s gold medal bout at the Olympics.
Monday’s results were enough to secure Iran’s first freestyle team title in 12 years with one day of action to spare – regardless of the final outcomes for Azarpira and Amouzad in their respective final bouts.
Later on Monday, Nokhodi recovered from a last-four setback (8-3) against Greece’s Georgios Kougioumtsidis on the preceding night to beat Azerbaijan’s Dzhabrail Gadzhiev 4-2 and win a joint-bronze in the 79kg event – Iranian’s fifth medal in as many years at the Wrestling Worlds.
Firouzpour – a five-time world champion across different age groups – managed to finish with something to cheer about on his debut at the Senior World Championships.
Having suffered a 11-6 loss to Russian Amanula Gadzhimagomedov, competing as a neutral athlete, in the 92kg semifinals, the 23-year-old Iranian bounced back to make quick work of Kazakhstan’s Kamil Kurugliyev, securing a fall victory in less than two minutes in the bronze-medal contest.
The double bronzes came after Amirhossein Zare’ had beaten Giorgi Meshvildishvili of Azerbaijan 5-0 in defend his 125kg world title on Sunday, walking away with his third gold medal in four editions of the Wrestling Worlds.
Ahmad Mohammadnejad Javan finished with an impressive silver medal on his debut at the World Championships following a superiority loss to Russian Zaur Uguev in the 61kg final, while Kamran Qassempour eased to a 10-0 win against Indian Mukul Dahiya to win a bronze in the 86kg division.