U17 Wrestling World Championships:
Iran’s Greco-Roman title streak snapped by Russia
The Greco-Roman competition at the UWW U17 World Championships proved one to forget for Iranian wrestling as the country missed out on a fifth successive team title in Baku.
A haul of two golds and two bronzes saw Iran finish third in the team standings with 96 points. Russia, which was eligible for team points for the first time since the 2021 edition, claimed the title with 127 points, while host Azerbaijan finished runner-up with 107 points despite failing to win a single gold medal across the 10 weight classes.
Iran might have enjoyed a better finish had it not been for the bizarre manner in which Armin Esmaeili exited the 45kg competition.
The U17 Asian champion began his campaign with a 9-1 superiority victory over Türkiye's Kerem Derman before defeating Kazakhstan's Nurislam Pakhitzhan 6-4 later in Tuesday's morning session to advance to the semifinals.
However, Esmaeili was disqualified after failing to report for his semifinal bout against Azerbaijan's Ali Javadli in what Iranian head coach Mohsen Sourian said was the result of a sudden change to the evening-session schedule.
Amirreza Tahmasbpour still provided Iran with some relief on the final day by claiming gold in the 60kg division thanks to an 8-6 victory over Tajikistan's Makhdi Barotov in a dramatic final.
At one stage, Barotov appeared destined to win Tajikistan's first-ever Greco-Roman world title across all age groups. Tahmasbpour scored a takedown and two trap-arm turns to build a 6-0 lead inside the opening minute, but the bout was turned on its head before the break.
Barotov countered an attempted duck-under to force Tahmasbpour backward for two points. Moments later, he secured double underhooks and launched the Iranian with a throw. The officials initially awarded four points to Tahmasbpour, but a successful challenge overturned the decision and awarded the points to Barotov instead, putting the Tajik ahead 6-6 on criteria.
Tahmasbpour, however, sensed that Barotov was tiring and began repeatedly snapping him down. After one of those snaps, he spun behind his opponent for the decisive takedown to seal an 8-6 victory, adding the world title to the 55kg bronze medal he won in Athens last year.
Iran collected another medal on the final day as Amirreza Mehri claimed bronze in the 92kg division.
Mehri suffered a disappointing start to his campaign with a 6-2 defeat to Ukraine's Hlib Yevsieiev but bounced back to defeat American William Etu and Azerbaijan's Zohrab Safarov 4-3 in the repechage before beating Uzbekistan's Mirjalol Shovkatov by the same scoreline in the bronze-medal match.
Alireza Rezaei had opened Iran's account on Tuesday by winning gold in the 80kg category.
Rezaei enjoyed a comfortable run to the final, outscoring his opponents 26-1 across four bouts, but had to dig deep against Azerbaijan's Isfahan Hasanov, rallying from behind to edge the home favorite 2-1.
Ali-Akbar Akou, meanwhile, recovered from a 5-4 quarterfinal defeat to Ukraine's Tymofii Prykhodko by beating Georgia's Saba Takidze 7-3 before edging Russia's Fedor Sukharev 1-1 on criteria to secure bronze in the 110kg division.
"The team's result and performance were weaker than in previous years because there is a continuous generational change at this age level and you don't get to work with the same group of wrestlers for several years," Iranian head coach Sourian said.
He added that his squad had only five seven-day training camps under his supervision before the tournament and missed several warm-up events, including April's Victory Cup in Antalya, because of the wartime conditions in Iran.
Sourian also acknowledged that his wrestlers were below their best physically but insisted the federation's long-term development strategy deliberately avoids placing excessive physical demands on teenage athletes.
"Yes, they weren't in ideal physical condition and looked drained toward the end of their bouts," he said. "But we have always believed we should not put too much pressure on young wrestlers. During my years in charge of this age group, our ultimate goal has always been to develop wrestlers for the junior and senior national teams, not simply chase results at any cost."
The coach noted that all 10 members of Iran's current junior national team had previously competed under him at U17 level, while senior national team members Payam Ahmadi and Ali Ahmadivafa also emerged through the same development pathway.
Sourian also accepted full responsibility for Esmaeili's disqualification, apologizing "to him, his family and his personal coach."
Despite missing out on the team title, Sourian rejected suggestions that Iran's overall campaign should be viewed as a failure.
"Taking everything into account, the result was not bad," he said.
"Azerbaijan didn't win any gold medals, while we and Russia each won two. Expectations are naturally very high because we had won the title four years in a row, but people also have to consider the circumstances we had to deal with in the buildup to the event."