U17 Wrestling World Championships:
Ferasati wins gold as Iran gains early momentum in FS title race
Iran’s bid for a first freestyle team title in three years at the U17 Wrestling World Championships got off to a strong start in Baku as the country collected four medals, including one gold, across five weight classes on Saturday.
The medal haul gave Iran an early lead in the team standings with 75 points, four ahead of Russia and five clear of Uzbekistan, at the end of the penultimate day of competition in the Azerbaijani capital.
Amirali Ferasati headlined Iran’s medal haul in the evening session by claiming gold in the 80kg class.
The U17 Asian champion from May capped a dominant campaign, in which he outscored his opponents 33-2 across four bouts, with a 10-0 superiority victory over Hungary’s Zeteny Tugyi in the final.
Amirhossein Esmali was the other Iranian finalist of the day, settling for silver after a 7-4 defeat to Russia’s Magomed Omarov in a thrilling 110kg final, adding to the superheavyweight silver medal he won at the U17 Asian Championships in Da Nang, Vietnam.
Elsewhere, Arman Elahi (55kg) and Sam Arshad (65kg) claimed bronze medals in their respective divisions through the repechage.
Elahi, who also entered the competition as the reigning Asian champion, suffered a 5-1 quarterfinal defeat to Jakhongir Tulkunov but was handed a second chance at a podium finish after the Uzbekistani advanced to the final. The Iranian outclassed Hungary’s Kyryl Shumeiko 7-0 in his first repechage bout before defeating Armenia’s Davit Baleyan 5-2 in the bronze-medal match to finish joint third alongside India’s Prathmesh Suryakant Patil.
Colombia’s Jovanni Fernando Tovar emerged as the surprise gold medalist in the 55kg class after a commanding 11-0 victory over Tulkunov in the final.
Arshad, meanwhile, powered into the semifinals with three successive superiority wins but fell 5-4 to Uzbekistan’s Shokhiddin Aliev. The Iranian bounced back with a 9-0 victory over Kazakhstan’s Zamir Daniyar in the bronze-medal bout.
Puerto Rico’s Jovani Isaias Solis claimed the other bronze medal, while Russia’s Magomed Ibragimov defeated Aliev 12-6 to secure his country’s second gold medal of the day.
Amirali Ragheb was the other Iranian wrestler in action across the opening five weight classes, finishing empty-handed in the 48kg division after back-to-back defeats to India’s Aaryan (10-0) and Azerbaijan’s Huseyn Rzazade.
The freestyle competition follows a disappointing Greco-Roman campaign for Iran in Baku last week, with the traditional powerhouse missing out on the team title for the first time in five editions.
Amirreza Tahmasbpour and Alireza Rezaei won gold in the 60kg and 80kg classes, respectively, while Amirreza Mehri (92kg) and Ali-Akbar Akou (110kg) added bronze medals as Iran finished third in the team standings with 96 points. Russia, 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 despite failing to win a single gold medal across the 10 weight classes.