Wrestling World Championships:
Iran handed 2015 freestyle title after Russian’s doping violation confirmed
Iran was officially awarded the freestyle team title from the 2015 Wrestling World Championships, a decade later, after the United World Wrestling confirmed on Thursday that Russian wrestler Abdusalam Gadisov’s doping ban had been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Gadisov lost in the final to American Kyle Snyder, settling for silver in the 97kg class in Las Vegas, but was later stripped of his medal and handed a four-year ban after testing positive for prohibited substances, as confirmed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Russia had originally made a clean sweep of men’s titles in Las Vegas, but has now dropped to third place in the freestyle team standings with 44 points, behind Iran (49) and Azerbaijan (46).
Under former head coach Rasoul Khadem, Iran bagged a couple of silver medals through Hassan Rahimi (57kg) and Hassan Yazdani (70kg), along with bronze medals from Ahmad Mohammadi (65kg) and Alireza Karimi (86kg) across eight weight divisions in Las Vegas.
The international governing body’s announcement took Iran’s tally to seven freestyle team titles at the sport’s flagship international event since its inception in 1951.
Iran’s most recent crown came at September’s showpiece in Zagreb, where the nation’s 10-man squad captured seven medals and tallied 145 points to beat the United States (134) to the top spot.
Rahman Amouzad (65kg) and Amirhossein Zare’ (125kg) won the ultimate prize in their respective weight classes, while Ahmad Mohammadnejad Javan (61kg), Amirali Azarpira (97kg) settled for two silver medals. Mohammad Nokhodi (79kg), Kamran Qassempour (86kg), and Amirhossein Firouzpour (92kg) added four bronzes to Iran’s medal haul.