U23 Wrestling World Championships:
Mohammadnejad extends Iran’s superheavyweight supremacy
The superheavyweight category remained Iran’s territory as Abolfazl Mohammadnejad cruised to the freestyle 125kg gold at the U23 Wrestling World Championships in Novi Sad.
Elsewhere on the penultimate day of the competition, Sina Khalili settled for silver in the 70kg class, while Milad Valizadeh (57kg) and Mahdi Yousefi (79kg) each claimed a bronze in their respective divisions.
An under-20 world silver medalist in August, Mohammadnejad was in a league of his own this time, scoring a total of 25 points while conceding only two across three bouts before outclassing Azerbaijan’s Khetag Karsanov by technical superiority (11-0) in the final showpiece.
Mohammadnejad’s triumph marked Iran’s fourth major gold in the superheavyweight class in 40 days.
Amirhossein Zare’ (freestyle) and Amin Mirzazadeh (Greco-Roman) defended their titles in September’s Senior World Championships, while Fardin Hedayati captured a second consecutive Greco-Roman gold at the U23 Worlds earlier in Novi Sad.
“I faced some tough opponents here. I won a world cadet bronze last year and then had to settle for the junior silver [in August], so I gave everything I had to win the gold medal here,” Mohammadnejad said after the final bout.
On how he has benefitted from training with Zare’ in the national team camps, Mohammadnejad said: “Amirhossein has definitely been a great help. He has been guiding me since my teenage years. We review techniques together in the senior team camps and he even gave me tips on one of the opponents I faced here.”
Former U17 world champion Khalili, meanwhile, produced impressive performances to reach the final, but eventually fell to a 9-4 defeat against Kanan Heybatov of Azerbaijan, adding the silver to the Asian senior bronze he won in March.
Asian senior silver medalist Valizadeh recovered from a last-eight setback (11-5) against American Luke Lilledahl to outmuscle China’s Liao Honghang (10-0) and Russian Aiandai Ondar (10-1) to finish with a bronze.
Reigning Asian senior and world junior champion Yousefi got off to a losing start to his under-23 title defense, suffering a 7-0 defeat to American Levi Haines, but recovered in repechage to finish with a consolation bronze – thanks to a 13-3 win against Russian Davud Daudov, who competed as a neutral athlete.
Sunday’s medals came after Mobin Azimi had grabbed the ultimate prize in the 92kg event on the preceding night.
Azimi scored three stepout points to defeat Russian Takhir Khaniev – competing as a neutral athlete – 5-3 in the final, adding the under-23 crown to his 2023 world junior gold medal.
Iran has already lifted the Greco-Roman team trophy in Novi Sad.
Hassan Rangraz’s 10-man squad bagged six medals, including triple golds, finishing atop the standings in with 143 points – 47 clear of second-placed Ukraine.
Iman Mohammadi (72kg), Gholamreza Farrokhi (87kg), and Fardin Hedayati (130kg) were the Iranian Greco-Roman gold medalists, while Sajjad Abbaspour settled for silver in 60kg.
Ahmadreza Mohsennejad (67kg) and Abolfazl Mohmadi (82kg), meanwhile, finished with consolation bronzes in their respective divisions.