TEHRAN, Apr. 12 (MNA) – Iran’s freestyle wrestlers collected two gold and one silver medal at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers.
Mohammadhossein Mohammadian (97kg) and Yones Emami (74kg) snatched the gold medals while Amirmohammad Yazdani (65kg) settled for a silver.
Emami took the title when Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (UZB) defaulted, and Mohammadian received a forfeit from Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Magomed Ibragimov (UZB) at 97kg.
Mohammadian, who returned from a four-year doping ban, said he will try to live up to the Iranian tradition of excellence in the 97kg class set by the legendary two-time world champion Reza Yazdani. “Definitely I feel the pressure of replicating what Reza Yazdani did for Iran at 97,” Mohammadian told United World Wrestling press service. “I have forgotten about the bad times when I was banned for four years and now I am only training to win gold at the Olympics. That is the only thing that will satisfy me after what happened.”
Yazdani lost to Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev 15-13 at the 65kg final and won a silver medal.
The Iranian trio had qualified for Tokyo with victories in the semifinals in the afternoon session in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Here are results of the freestyle competitions:
57kg
GOLD – Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) df. Minghu LIU (CHN) by TF, 10-0, 3:46
BRONZE – Bekbolot MYRZANAZAR UULU (KGZ) df. Sunggwon KIM (KOR) by TF, 11-0, 3:53
BRONZE – Muhammad IKROMOV (TJK) df. Tuvshintulga TUMENBILEG (MGL), 7-6
65kg
GOLD – Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) df. Amir Mohammad YAZDANI (IRI), 15-13
BRONZE – Kerim HOJAKOV (TKM) df. Ilyas BEKBULATOV (UZB) by Default
BRONZE – Haji ALI (BRN) df. Mohammed ABDULKAREEM (KUW) by TF, 10-0, :58
74kg
GOLD – Yones EMAMICHOGHAEI (IRI) df. Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) by Default
BRONZE – Elaman DOGDURBEK UULU (KGZ) df. Bat Erdene BYAMBASUREN (MGL), 2-2
BRONZE – Menghejigan MENGHEJIGAN (CHN) df. Sandeep MANN (INDIA) by TF, 14-4, 3:40
86kg
GOLD – Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB) df. Zushen LIN (CHN), 7-3
BRONZE – Sohsuke TAKATANI (JPN) df. Nurtilek KARYPBAEV (KGZ), 6-1
BRONZE – Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ) df. Bakhodur KODIROV (TJK), 6-3
97kg
GOLD – Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) df. Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UZB) by Default
BRONZE – Muhammad INAM (PAK) df. Symbat SULAIMANOV (KGZ), 10-7
BRONZE – Satywart KADIAN (IND) df. Zyyamuhammet SAPAROV (TKM), 5-0
125kg
GOLD – Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) df. Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL), 4-2
BRONZE – Sumit SUMIT (IND) df. Donghwan KIM (KOR), 5-0
BRONZE – Aiaal LAZAREV (KGZ) df. Tetsuya TANAKA (JPN) by Default