WANA (Sep 14) – The Freestyle Wrestling World Championships in Croatia continued with brilliant performances from Iran’s representatives in the heavyweight and middleweight categories, as the team secured one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal on the opening night.

 

At 125 kg, Amirhossein Zare dominated his opponents on his way to the title, earning Iran’s first gold medal. After a bye in the opening round, he defeated Puerto Rico’s representative 11–0 in the second round. He went on to crush Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 10–0 in the quarterfinals, and then beat Bahrain’s Shamil Sharipov 7–3 in the semifinals. In the final, Zare delivered a calculated 5–0 victory over Azerbaijan’s Giorgi Meshvidishvili to stand atop the podium.

Military salute and respect to the Iranian flag by Amirhossein Zare after winning the World Championship gold medal.

 

In the 61 kg class, Ahmad Mohammadnejad Javan reached the final with consecutive wins over wrestlers from Ecuador, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and North Korea. In a high-stakes showdown, he faced Olympic and World Champion Zaur Uguev of Russia, where he fell 11–2, earning a well-deserved silver medal.

 

At 86 kg, Kamran Ghasempour started strong with decisive wins against opponents from Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. In the quarterfinals, he narrowly defeated Russia’s Ibragim Kadiev, but in the semifinals he lost 7–0 to Zahid Valencia of the USA. Ghasempour then bounced back in the bronze medal match to secure third place on the podium.

 

Thus, on the opening day of the World Championships in Croatia, Iran’s freestyle wrestling team shone with an impressive haul of one gold (Zare), one silver (Mohammadnejad Javan), and one bronze (Ghasempour).