Asian U20 Wrestling Championships:
Iran wins nine medals to secure Greco-Roman title
Iran dominated the Greco-Roman competition at the Asian U20 Wrestling Championships, collecting nine medals – including five golds – across the 10 weight classes to claim the team title in Pattaya, Thailand.
It would have been an even more emphatic campaign for the Iranian team had Amir-Mahdi Saeidi-Nava not been disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct following his 7-3 semifinal victory over Kazakhstan's Bakdaulet Tursynbek in the 77kg division.
The medal haul still saw Iran finish atop the standings with 190 points, 22 clear of runner-up Uzbekistan, while Kyrgyzstan placed third with 166.
Amirsam Mohammadi brought the curtain down on a glorious campaign for Iran on Thursday by defeating India's Akshay Rana by technical superiority (8-0) in the 97kg final, outscoring his opponents 30-0 across four bouts.
Alireza Mohammad-Hosseini claimed Iran's fourth gold medal earlier on Thursday, cruising past Kazakhstan's Yerkebulan Anapiya 10-1 in the 82kg final.
Mohammad Kazemi, meanwhile, had to settle for silver in the 72kg division after suffering a technical fall while trailing 4-1 against Kyrgyzstan's Yrysbek Khamdamov in the final.
Thursday's results came after Iran had claimed three gold medals through Armin Shamsipour, Ali Gharibi, and Amirhossein Abdevali on the opening day of the competition.
Shamsipour thrashed Uzbekistan's Otabek Tursanov 8-0 in the 55kg final, while Gharibi defeated China's Zhaojian Wang 8-1 to take the title in the 63kg category.a
Abdevali, meanwhile, maintained Iran's traditional dominance in the super heavyweight division by defeating Turkmenistan's Aslan Agadadayev 7-1 in the 130kg final.
Elsewhere, Amirali Heidari (60kg), Mohammadreza Gholami (67kg), and Amirhossein Nematzadeh (87kg) added three bronze medals to Iran's tally.
Heidari bounced back from a 6-3 quarterfinal defeat to Kyrgyzstan's Alkham Abdirasulov to edge China's Lijun Bi 2-1, while Gholami – who had suffered a 9-1 semifinal defeat to Uzbekistan's Ogabek Mukimov – beat Mongolia's Otgonnasan Tserenpuntsag 5-2 in the bronze-medal bout.
Nematzadeh recovered from a 6-3 semifinal loss to Kazakhstan's Alikhan Tagayev to defeat China's Qiangle Wang by technical superiority (8-0) and secure the bronze medal.