Iran’s Freestyle Wrestlers Secure Six-Medal in Zagreb

WANA (Feb 05) – Iranian freestyle wrestlers claimed six medals across the first six weight categories at the United World Wrestling (UWW) Ranking Series event in Zagreb, Croatia.

The classification bouts and finals of the opening six weights were held on Wednesday night, with Iranian representatives taking to the mat in pursuit of medals. Sina Khalili won gold, Peyman Nemati secured silver, while Milad Valizadeh, Reza Momeni, Ali Akbar Fazli, and Ali Savadkouhi each captured bronze medals.

57 kg:

Milad Valizadeh defeated Georgia’s Roberti Dingashvili 11–0 in the opening round, then beat Liam Cronin of the United States 9–3 to advance to the semifinals. He suffered a 10–0 loss to a Mexican opponent at that stage and moved to the bronze medal match, where he overpowered India’s Sunil Todkar 10–0 to claim bronze.

61 kg:

Reza Momeni edged Austin DeSanto of the United States 11–11 on criteria in his first bout. He then lost 12–2 to Aman of India. In the bronze medal match, Momeni defeated Georgia’s Giorgi Guniashvili 10–0 to secure third place.

65 kg:

Peyman Nemati opened with a 9–0 victory over Nika Zakashvili of Georgia and followed with a 6–4 win against Hungary’s Zoltan Mezsei to reach the semifinals. He then defeated Hungary’s Khalidov 4–2 to advance to the final. Nemati lost 3–0 in the gold medal bout to India’s Sujeet, the reigning U23 world champion, and took silver.

70 kg:

Sina Khalili dominated Patrick Olenczyn of Poland 13–0 in the first round and defeated Yan Parker of the United States 9–3 to reach the semifinals. He then beat his Indian opponent 10–0 to advance to the final. Khalili needed less than a minute to defeat Georgia’s Kramertlidze 10–0, earning the gold medal.

74 kg:

Ali Akbar Fazli lost 13–2 to David Carr of the United States in the opening round. With Carr advancing to the final, Fazli entered repechage, where he defeated an Indian opponent 10–0. He then beat a Georgian wrestler 6–0 in the bronze medal match.

86 kg:

In this weight class, Abolfazl Shamsipour defeated Greek world champion Georgios Kougioumtzidis 7–6 in the first round and then won 10–0 against Sean Younes of Puerto Rico. He lost 2–2 on criteria to Georgia’s Vladimir Gamkrelidze and moved to the classification rounds, where he was defeated 4–0 and by fall by American world champion Zahid Valencia, missing out on a medal.

Also at 86 kg, Ali Savadkouhi beat Simon Marchl of Austria 12–1 and then defeated Connor Church of Canada 10–0. He lost 9–5 to an American opponent in the semifinals but rebounded with a 6–5 win over India’s Danayan in the bronze medal match.

Iran’s Freestyle Wrestlers Secure Six-Medal Victory in Zagreb Rankings. Social media/ WANA News Agency