UWW U23 World Championships:
Men’s titles on the line as Iran aims to continue wrestling dominance
Iran’s freestyle and Greco-Roman squads are set to pursue another dominant run at the upcoming U23 Wrestling World Championships – starting Monday in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Iran will look to draw inspiration from its double-title triumph at September’s Senior World Championships as it aims to complete a clean sweep of team titles at the under-23 level for the second year in a row.
Gholamreza Farrokhi (87kg) and Fardin Hedayati (130kg) will headline the Iranian Greco-Roman roster in Novi Sad, where both are the clear favorites to capture golds in their respective weight classes.
Farrokhi will head to the competition as the reigning senior world champion, while Hedayati – an Asian senior champion in March – will vie for a second successive gold at the under-23 superheavyweight event.
Joining the duo in the 10-man squad are Armin Shamsipour, who will be looking to build on last year’s gold-winning run at the U17 Worlds when taking part in the 55kg event.
Sajjad Abbaspour will represent the country in the 60kg class, while Mohammad-Javad Aboutalebi – an U20 world bronze winner in August – will be part of the 63kg draw.
Ahmadreza Mohsennejad had an under-23 campaign to forget last year in Tirana, but will still be among the favorites in the 67kg division, having won back-to-back U20 world titles in 2023 and 2024.
Former senior Asian champion Iman Mohammadi (72kg) will be back in the U23 Worlds for the first time since 2022, when he grabbed the gold in Pontevedra, Spain.
Alireza Abdevali, who had a decent campaign at the world event last month despite missing out on the podium, will also compete in the 77kg category as the two-time under-20 world gold medalist.
Abolfazl Mohmedi and reigning U20 world silver medalist Mohammad-Hadi Seydi will be among the hopefuls in the 82kg and 97kg classes respectively.
In the freestyle competitions, Milad Valizadeh will step into the 57kg contests on the back of the senior Asian silver earlier in the year, with Reza Momeni and Yasin Rezaei chasing glory in the 61kg and 65kg divisions respectively.
Former cadet world champion Sina Khalili, who missed out on a place in September’s World Championships, will among the wrestlers to watch in the 70kg category, having won a bronze medal at the Senior Asian Championships.
Mohammadreza Shakeri (74kg) will aim to add another world age-group title to his U20 gold in 2023, with reigning U20 world and Asian champion Mahdi Yousefi the wrestler to beat in the 79kg event.
Abolfazl Rahmani – also a senior Asian gold medalist – will be desperate to improve on his U20 world bronze in the 86kg category, as he looks to follow in the footsteps of Iranian wrestling greats Hassan Yazdani and Kamran Qassempour.
Mohammad-Mobin Azimi (92kg) and Abolfazl Babalou (97kg) boast five gold medals between them from various international U20 events and will look to add to their tally in Novi Sad. Meanwhile, teenage superheavyweight Abolfazl Mohammadnejad — the U20 world silver medalist — will step in for Iranian prodigy Amirreza Masoumi in the 125kg category.