TEHRAN - Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler Abolfazl Mahmedi has secured a spot in the final of the U-23 World Championships in Las Vegas. 
The semifinals for the first day of the U-23 Greco-Roman World Championships took place early this morning in Las Vegas, USA, covering the 60kg, 67kg, 72kg, 82kg, and 97kg weight classes.
En route to the final in the 82kg category, the Iranian wrestler Mehmedi received a bye in the first round, then defeated Mikeladze of Georgia 4–1 in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals. At that stage, Mehmedi beat Mihail Lukac of Croatia 9–0 to reach the semifinals.
In the semifinals, the Iranian wrestler defeated Arapkhanov of Russia 5–0, becoming the first finalist for the national Greco-Roman wrestling team.
The results for the Iranian representatives are as follows:
In the 60kg category, Muhammad Ashiri was defeated 8–6 by Skripchak of Poland in the first round; as the Polish wrestler subsequently lost to an opponent from Azerbaijan, Ashiri was eliminated from the tournament.
In the 67kg category, Muhammad Kamali defeated Bustamante of Chile 9–0 in the first round. He then beat Manov of Bulgaria 9–0 to advance to the quarter-finals. At that stage, he overcame Arslanbek Salimov of Poland 8–0 to reach the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Kamali lost 13–2 to Zakriev of Russia and moved to the bronze medal match.
In the 72kg category, Ahmadreza Mohsen-Nejad lost 3–1 to Kochkorov of Uzbekistan in the first round; since the Uzbek wrestler lost to an opponent from Azerbaijan in the next round, Mohsen-Nejad was eliminated.
In the 97kg category, Muhammad-Hadi Seydi defeated Zambrano of Ecuador 8–0 in the opening round. He then overcame Chatsaturov of Greece 6–1 in the second round to reach the quarterfinals. Seydi defeated Wojciech Ivanovski of Poland 5–3 in that round to advance to the semifinals.
However, the 97kg national team wrestler lost 4–1 to Ihor Yakushchenko of Ukraine in the semifinals and moved to the bronze-medal match.