U20 Wrestling World Championships:
Iran finds Greco-Roman solace with triple bronzes
Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers bagged three bronze medals at the U20 Wrestling World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Monday.
A day after all four Iranians failed to reach the final in their respective weight classes, dealing the country a massive blow to its bid for a fifth successive team title, Ali Gharibi, Amirmehdi Saeidi-Nava and Amirhossein Nematzadeh managed to finish their campaigns with something to cheer about.
Representing Iran in the 63kg division, Gharibi bounced back from a 4-1 semifinal defeat to Russia’s Salim Kazmakhov to edge out Georgia’s Giorgi Tchikaidze 1-1 on criteria in the bronze-medal bout, adding to the gold medal he won at June’s U20 Asian Championships.
Kazmakhov settled for silver following a 9-7 loss to Uzbekistan’s Kuvonchbek Ismoilov in a thrilling final, while Azerbaijan’s Tural Ahmadov took the other bronze.
Saeidi, meanwhile, having suffered a 7-1 loss to Azerbaijan’s Javidan Nahmatov in the 77kg semifinals, defeated Kazakhstan’s Yerkebulan Anapiya 5-3 to win one of the bronze medals. Hungary’s Zalan Csaba Toplak claimed the other bronze, while Armenia’s Samvel Terteryan secured a 1-1 win on criteria over Nahmatov in the final.
In the 87kg division, Nematzadeh, who was beaten 5-1 by Armenia’s Iurik Petrosian in the quarterfinals, secured his second international bronze following another podium finish at the Asian event.
The Iranian overpowered Kyrgyzstan’s Mirsaid Iunusov 7-1 in the first round of the repechage and was then awarded the bronze medal after his Austrian opponent, Paul Maier, withdrew from the third-place bout because of injury.
Japan’s Taizo Yoshida defeated Petrosian by superiority (8-0) in the final to win his country’s first Greco-Roman gold medal in the history of the U20 Worlds, while American Aidan Squier finished joint third alongside Nematzadeh.
Amirhossein Abdevali, who also entered the tournament as the reigning U20 Asian champion, crashed out in the 130kg quarterfinals on Sunday after a shock 6-5 loss to Egypt’s Essam Anwar Hussein, as Iran missed out on the superheavyweight podium for the first time in a decade.
However, former U17 world champion Armin Shamsipour kept Iran’s hopes of winning a gold medal alive after reaching the 55kg final on Monday, thanks to a 3-1 victory over U23 world bronze medalist Khojiakbar Kuchkarov of Uzbekistan.
There was further disappointment for the Iranian squad elsewhere on the day, as Iliya Alikhani was forced into the repechage in the 67kg division, while Ahmadreza Mohammadian (72kg) and Amirsam Mohammadi (97kg) suffered early exits.