Wrestling World Championships:
Farrokhi defends 82kg title as Iran sweeps four Greco-Roman medals
Gholamreza Farrokhi spearheaded Iran’s four-medal haul by defending his 82kg title on Sunday, as the country made an early statement in its bid for a second successive Greco-Roman team crown at the Wrestling World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Payam Ahmadi and Ali Ahmadi-Vafa, meanwhile, added two silver medals to Iran’s haul, while Ali Oskou won a consolation bronze, lifting the Iranian team to the top of the standings with 80 points – 20 clear of second-placed Azerbaijan – by the end of the second day of competition.
After a series of below-par performances in the 87kg category on the continental stage in recent months, Farrokhi was back to his best on returning to familiar territory, capping his campaign with a 7-1 victory over Turkey’s Yuksel Saricicek, who had already pulled off a major upset by defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Akzhol Makhmudov – a two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist – in the semifinals.
After seeing two compatriots lose their finals earlier in the evening session, Farrokhi stayed patient and kept his composure before scoring the decisive points in the second period to open Iran’s gold account in Astana.
With the score tied at 1-1 on criteria after the two wrestlers traded passivity points, Farrokhi was on the verge of being forced out when he suddenly reached underneath his opponent and unleashed a counter body lift for four points with 1:50 remaining, leaving a stunned Saricicek slapping the mat in frustration.
As the clock ticked down and his efforts were repeatedly repelled, Saricicek gave up the fight with several seconds remaining, conceding a two-point penalty that further extended Farrokhi’s winning margin.
In a battle between youth and experience in the 55kg category, Ahmadi, a day after his 20th birthday, suffered a defeat in the final against veteran Azerbaijani wrestler Eldaniz Azizli, settling for a second consecutive silver medal at the Senior World Championships.
Beaten by the Iranian prodigy in last year’s semifinals, Azizli, 34, made the most of the slightest opening presented by his tough opponent in a cagey affair.
Azizli scored a perfectly timed counter from the bottom position in par terre to secure a 3-1 victory and claim his fifth world gold medal before announcing his retirement after the bout.
Azizli failed to score from the top position in par terre in the first period. The Iranian got his chance in the second and, needing to score while trailing on criteria, started with a reverse cross-body hold before moving to a front headlock.
But that was where the young Iranian made a fatal mistake. As he tried to twist Azizli over, the Azerbaijani pulled down on Ahmadi’s shoulders, sending both wrestlers temporarily to the mat and scoring a two-point exposure to take a 3-1 lead that he never relinquished.
“When I secured the first passivity call, I told myself right there on the mat that I had effectively won 70 to 80 percent of the match,” Azizli said. “My tactic was to ensure, no matter what, that I would be the one to get the first ‘active’ status and score the first point.
“In the worst-case scenario, I would win 1-1. In the final moments, I knew that even if we wrestled for another whole day, I would never have conceded a point to him on that mat.”
Lack of experience also cost Ahmadi-Vafa a chance at his first senior world title, as the 21-year-old surrendered a commanding first-period lead to suffer a fall defeat against world U23 champion Koto Gomi of Japan in the 60kg final.
Gomi capped a run to gold that included victories over Paris Olympic silver medalist Liguo Cao of China and defending champion Aidos Sultangali of Kazakhstan – in front of the latter’s home crowd, no less – with the most improbable of wins.
Gomi fell into a 7-1 hole in the first period after Ahmadi-Vafa scored a stepout, a takedown and two two-point throws. The Iranian then maintained the gap by squirming his way out of two well-executed arm-throw attempts by Gomi.
But Gomi noticed that his efforts had taken a toll on Ahmadi-Vafa.
“There were parts of the first period that were a bit rough, but I had trained and the opponent had started to get winded,” Gomi said. “Somehow I was able to turn it around.”
In the second period, the Japanese wrestler waited for the precise moment to strike, hitting the Iranian with an inner arm throw that sent him directly onto his back before clamping down for the fall in 4:13 to cap his impressive run in Astana.
The final heartbreak prevented Ahmadi-Vafa, a senior Asian bronze medalist this year, from joining the so-called “Grand Slam” club, having already won world gold medals at the U17, U20 and U23 levels.
Oskou, meanwhile, recovered from a 2-0 defeat to Azerbaijan’s Sanan Suleymanov in Saturday’s semifinal to edge Uzbekistan’s Doniyorkhon Nakibov in the 77kg bronze-medal bout.
Saravi stunned in semis
Earlier in the day, Iran had secured two more places in the finals through Danial Sohrabi and Fardin Hedayati before reigning world and Olympic champion Mohammad-Hadi Saravi suffered a shock 5-1 defeat to Russia’s Artur Sargsian in a controversial 97kg semifinal. The result prompted protests from the Iranian camp over the officiating decisions at mat side.
The defeat marked Saravi’s first international loss since the 2023 World Championships semifinals, ending a 30-match winning streak for the two-time world champion. He had beaten Sargsian in their previous two meetings, including last year’s final.
In the 72kg category, Sohrabi, a bronze medalist last year, hit a four-point suplex after a takedown and turned Kyrgyz opponent Amantur Ismailov for a quick victory. A failed challenge brought the final score to 9-0, setting up a final encounter with Hungary’s Krisztian Istvan Vancza.
Hedayati, who has three age-group titles in the superheavyweight category, marked his senior World Championships debut in style by powering his way into the 130kg final.
The young Iranian, who stunned reigning world champion Amin Mirzazadeh in the national team trials to earn his place in Astana, opened his campaign with a fall victory over Lithuania’s Romas Fridrikas before claiming three technical superiority wins without conceding a single point. He will face reigning silver medalist Darius Attila Vitek of Hungary in the final.