Tehran - Iran secured another wrestling gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games on Thursday as Alireza Abdevali defeated Japan’s Olympic champion Nao Kusaka 5-3 in the men’s Greco-Roman 77kg final, while teammate Mehdi Bali added a bronze in the 97kg category.
Abdevali edged Kusaka in a closely fought final at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center on Thursday, adding another gold to Iran’s wrestling haul at the Games.
Kusaka entered the final as the reigning Olympic champion. He won the 77kg title at the Paris 2024 Olympics and had also faced Iran’s Abdevali at the 2025 World Championships.
Abdevali took control early and led 2-0 after the opening period. Kusaka responded in the second, but the Iranian maintained his advantage to secure the 5-3 victory.
The result gave Abdevali the biggest senior title of his career and denied Kusaka a second major title in the weight class.
The Japanese wrestler had reached the final after a dramatic 11-9 victory over Kazakhstan’s Demeu Zhadrayev in the quarterfinals. Zhadrayev was the silver medalist behind Kusaka at the Paris Olympics.
Abdevali had advanced to the final after defeating Qatar’s Shahin Badaghimofrad 9-0 in the semifinal. Badaghimofrad, an Asian champion at 82kg, had moved down to 77kg for the Games.
Iran had already celebrated gold in wrestling on Wednesday. Amin Mirzazadeh successfully defended his Asian Games title in the 130kg class, beating Uzbekistan’s Rafael Tsitsuashvili 3-1 in the final.