Wrestling World Championships
Nokhodi settles for silver as Iran finishes third in freestyle
The final day of the freestyle competition at the Wrestling World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, saw Iran’s Mohammad Nokhodi settle for a silver medal, while Amir-Mohammad Yazdani secured a bronze.
Sunday’s medals took Iran’s tally to six, including two golds, across the 10 weight categories. The Iranian freestyle team, which entered the competition as the defending champion, finished third in the team standings with 133 points.
Team USA dominated the freestyle competition, winning an impressive nine medals, including five golds, to top the team standings with 194 points. Russia, which was eligible to earn team points for the first time since 2021, finished runner-up with 185 points, courtesy of three golds, two silvers, and four bronze medals.
Arriving in Astana on the back of five consecutive medals at the World Championships, Nokhodi maintained his streak but once again missed out on the top prize after suffering a final defeat to American Levi Haines in the 79kg category.
Haines scored the decisive takedown in the second period to secure a 4-3 victory and improve on the silver medal he won in Zagreb last year.
“I thought I fought the game plan well, wish I would have got more attacks in there,” Haines said. “Just a real grippy guy, kind of hard to break from and create action. Just got to get better in there.”
Nokhodi, who had won gold in the 86kg category at the recent Asian Games, opened the match with a stepout. Haines responded with a takedown, but as he attempted a gut wrench, Nokhodi stepped over to score two points and take a 3-2 lead into the break.
In the second period, Haines scored a single-leg takedown before stopping an arm-drag attempt and holding on for the victory, leaving Nokhodi with the third world silver medal of his career.
Meanwhile, Yazdani wrapped up Iran’s campaign with a bronze medal in the 74kg category.
A two-time silver medalist at the 2021 and 2023 editions, Yazdani denied Slovakia’s Tajmuraz Salkazanov a second consecutive bronze medal and fifth world medal overall, surviving a late rally to secure a 5-4 victory.
Yazdani scored a stepout and a takedown in the first period, before the two wrestlers exchanged stepouts early in the second. Salkazanov then stepped up the pressure, scoring three consecutive stepouts in the final minute to tie the score, but remained behind on criteria.
The Slovak corner challenged the final stepout, which was awarded with just one second remaining, arguing that it should have been ruled a takedown. However, the challenge was unsuccessful, giving Yazdani his final point.
Having suffered a fall defeat to eventual gold medalist Inalbek Sheriev of Russia in the quarterfinals, Yazdani bounced back with an 8-2 victory over American James Green in the repechage before defeating Salkazanov to claim his third world medal in a third different weight category.
Amirhossein Firouzpour was the other Iranian wrestler chasing a bronze medal on the final day but finished empty-handed after suffering a 6-0 defeat to Azerbaijan’s Ali Tcokaev in the 92kg third-place bout.
A European champion in April, Tcokaev scored a takedown in each period and added a lace-lock roll after the second to deny the Iranian a second consecutive world bronze medal.
The highlight of Iran’s freestyle campaign came on the penultimate day of the competition, when Ahmad Mohammadnejad Javan and Amirhossein Zare’ won gold medals in their respective categories.
A silver medalist last year, Javan stunned Zavur Uguev, a three-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, in the 61kg final, securing a 9-2 victory to avenge his defeat to the Russian star in last year’s final in Zagreb.
Zare’, meanwhile, claimed his fourth superheavyweight title in emphatic fashion, defeating Russia’s Abdulla Kurbanov 11-0 with 56 seconds remaining in the second period of the 125kg final. It was the Iranian’s fourth consecutive victory by technical superiority in Astana, during which he did not concede a single point.
The triumph extended Zare’s unbeaten run since his defeat to Georgian Geno Petriashvili in the final of the Paris Olympics. The Iranian, who also won the world bronze medal in 2022, added the title to his Asian Championships and Asian Games gold medals earlier this year.
Yazdani eager for more
Hassan Yazdani and Rahman Amouzad had opened Iran’s freestyle campaign by winning two bronze medals.
Yazdani bounced back from a last-gasp quarterfinal defeat to Japan’s Arash Yoshida to beat reigning Olympic champion Akhmed Tazhudinov of Bahrain 5-0 in the 97kg bronze-medal bout, taking his personal tally to 11 world and Olympic medals.
“This medal is not the end of the road for me,” Yazdani wrote on social media. “I still have the dream of [winning] the championship on my mind, and I will try with all my might to make the flag of Iran fly high in the world once again.”
The 31-year-old underwent two surgeries following the 2024 Paris Olympics but made his return at the Zagreb Ranking Series this year, where he won silver on his international debut in the 97kg category. He then claimed his eighth world medal in his first appearance at the World Championships in three years.
“In this comeback I was able to bag another medal for Iran,” he wrote. “I know this position [third] is not what I have strived for and my fans deserve a greater honor.”
“Returning after two years off the mat was not easy for me,” Yazdani wrote. “I went through hard days to have the opportunity to wear the Iran’s singlet and wrestle for Iran and its people. All this time, your encouragement has been one of my biggest motivations to keep going.”
Amouzad, meanwhile, missed out on defending his 65kg title but still managed to beat familiar rival Shamil Mamedov 5-4 in the bronze-medal bout to claim his third world medal.