U20 Wrestling World Championships
Shamsipour saves Iran’s Greco-Roman campaign with 55kg gold
Armin Shamsipour ensured Iran’s Greco-Roman squad would finish with a gold medal at the U20 Wrestling World Championships after securing the 55kg title in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Tuesday.
Iran had also settled for a single gold across 10 weight classes last year, which proved enough for a fourth successive Greco-Roman team title. This time, however, the country was left all but out of the title race after Amirali Heidari (60kg) and Alireza Hosseini (82kg) fell short in the semifinals of their respective divisions earlier in the day.
Two years after capturing the imagination of Iranian wrestling with a gold medal at the U17 Worlds, 18-year-old Shamsipour cruised to the top of the podium in the Slovakian capital in style, winning three of his four bouts by technical superiority, while his semifinal was a close 3-1 affair.
In the final, Shamsipour outclassed Koba Karumidze 12-2, never allowing the Georgian to come close to pulling off an upset.
Shamsipour was on the attack from the outset, lifting Karumidze in par terre and scoring a beautiful four-point throw to take a 5-0 lead into the break.
Karumidze appeared drained as he engaged more with Shamsipour, who scored an easy go-behind. As he tried to lift and throw the Georgian, however, Shamsipour landed on his own back to concede two points.
Shamsipour did not take his foot off the gas despite leading 7-2 and scored another takedown with 1:22 remaining. Ten seconds later, he added another easy takedown to make it 11-2. Georgia challenged the call but lost the challenge, giving Shamsipour one more point.
“I was in good shape,” Shamsipour said. “Based on the coaches’ analysis, the plan was for me to start working on his arms from the first period and try to force the first passivity warning. Once I started doing that, I could see that he was really struggling, so I just kept going with the same strategy,” added the teen prodigy, who also won gold at the U20 Asian Championships in June.
Among his bouts, the Khuzestan-based wrestler singled out his semifinal against Uzbekistan’s Khojiakbar Kuchkarov as his toughest test. Kuchkarov had beaten Shamsipour 8-0 in the bronze-medal bout at last year’s U23 Worlds.
“My toughest opponent was the wrestler from Uzbekistan because I had wrestled him before,” he said. “I couldn’t afford to take any risks. At the U23 Worlds, I was really upset. But here, I got my revenge.”
At the 2024 U17 World Championships, Shamsipour went berserk with his celebrations, but on Tuesday he kept it simple.
“I was younger, I made a lot more noise and showed a lot more excitement after that competition,” he said. “This time it was different. I knew I had to stay calm, take it one match at a time, and move forward step by step. Physically, the wrestlers at this level are stronger. Age and weight are both very important factors.”
While he is yet to make his senior debut, Shamsipour said his ultimate goal is to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in two years.
“I hope I can always make my parents proud like this and achieve my dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. The 2028 Olympics is my goal, and that’s what I’m focused on right now.”
Elsewhere, Asian U20 bronze medalist Heidari claimed three comprehensive victories en route to the semifinals but was edged 4-3 by Azerbaijan’s Aykhan Javadov.
Hosseini, meanwhile, also enjoyed an emphatic run to the semifinals before falling 5-1 to Russia’s Ramazan Nekhal.
Tuesday’s results came after Iran had won three bronze medals through Ali Gharibi (63kg), Mahdi Saeidi-Nava (77kg) and Amirhossein Nematzadeh (87kg) on the preceding day.
Iliya Alikhani fell short in the bronze-medal bout at 67kg, while Ahmadreza Mohammadian (72kg), Amirsam Mohammadi (97kg) and Amirhossein Abdevali (130kg) suffered early exits.