TEHRAN - The Iranian U-20 Men’s Freestyle Wrestling team concluded its continental campaign at the Asian Championships by securing the runners-up trophy, pocketing a total of 8 medals—3 gold, 2 silver, and 3 bronze medals.
In the final team standings, Kazakhstan claimed the top spot with 170 points, followed by Iran in second with 164 points, and India in third with 152 points. The remaining top ten slots were filled by Uzbekistan (121 points), Japan (104 points), Mongolia (90 points), Turkmenistan (89 points), Kyrgyzstan (82 points), China (75 points), and South Korea (35 points).
Standing atop the podium for Iran were Sobhan Esmi (79kg), Abolfazl Shamsipour (86kg), and Abolfazl Muhammadnejad (125kg), who all captured gold medals. Amirreza Teymorizad (65kg) and Muhammad Mehdi Mamivand (74kg) claimed silver, while Ali Asghar Soltani (61kg), Sajjad Pirdayeh (70kg), and Amirhossein Khakpa (92kg) earned bronze medals.
Reviewing the individual campaigns, Erfan Siri faced an early exit in the 57 kg category after losing 6-0 in the opening round to Kyrgyzstan’s Temirbekov, who subsequently lost his next bout to a Mongolian opponent, thereby ending Siri’s hopes in the repechage. In the 61 kg category, Ali Asghar Soltani opened with an 11-0 shutout against Sri Lanka’s Jayasundera, followed by a commanding 13-3 victory over China’s Anchao Lu to reach the semifinals. Despite battling an ankle injury, he competed but fell 10-0 to Kazakhstan’s Bekassil Assambek, later rebounding sharply in the bronze medal match to crush Turkmenistan’s Ashyrgulyev 11-1 for a third-place finish.
Iran’s first silver came in the 65 kg division, where Amirreza Teymorizad launched his run with back-to-back 10-0 technical superiority wins over South Korea’s Go and Tajikistan’s Muhammadjan Saidov, before outpointing Japan’s Eita Shimoda 10-4 in the semifinals; however, he lost 12-5 via a fall to Kyrgyzstan’s Isa Isakov in the final. In the 70 kg class, Sajjad Pirdayeh fell 6-3 in his opening bout to Kazakhstan’s Seidakhmet but entered the repechage after the Kazakh wrestler reached the finals. Pirdayeh blanked China’s Wang 10-0 and went on to defeat Japan’s Sukegawa 5-2 for the bronze medal.
In the 74 kg category, Muhammad Mehdi Mamivand enjoyed a flawless run to the finals, securing consecutive technical superiority wins over Turkmenistan’s Azimberdiev (10-0), China’s Tao Shen (11-0), and Uzbekistan’s Farrukhbek Jumanazarov (10-0), though a highly contested 4-4 draw in the final saw him lose on criteria to Kazakhstan’s Silbekov, walking away with silver. Meanwhile, Sobhan Esmi dominantly secured Iran’s first gold in the 79 kg division by dispatching Japan’s Mizusaki (10-0) and Mongolia’s Javkhlankhoo (10-0), before defeating Turkmenistan’s Watan Annamyradov 12-1 in the semifinals and outperforming India’s Saurabh Yadav 15-10 in a high-scoring gold medal match.
The gold rush continued in the 86 kg class as Abolfazl Shamsipour started strong by edging out India’s Dalal 3-1, followed by a 12-2 victory over Safoev of Kyrgyzstan. After winning a 6-5 semifinal thriller against Askhab Khajiyev of Kazakhstan, Shamsipour secured the gold medal by defeating Turkmenistan’s Alp Arslan Begenjov 9-2 in the final. In the 92 kg division, Amirhossein Khakpa received a first-round bye and shut out India’s Nikhil 10-0. He suffered a narrow 4-2 defeat to Turkmenistan’s Dovletgeldi Myradov in the semifinals but bounced back brilliantly in the third-place match, defeating China’s Bi Erdihan Erlan 10-0 for the bronze.
The remaining heavyweights saw mixed fortunes; in the 97 kg category, Danial Tavakoli dropped a close 8-5 decision to India’s Lucky in the first round and was eliminated after the Indian wrestler lost his subsequent match to a Chinese opponent. Finally, in the 125 kg heavyweight class, Abolfazl Muhammadnejad secured Iran’s third gold after a first-round bye, shutting out Mongolia’s Narantulga Dharmabazar 10-0 and crushing Kazakhstan’s Reza Izakhar 12-2 in the semifinals, before executing a disciplined tactical performance to defeat India’s Ronak 3-0 to capture the heavyweight title.