On Friday, the sole day of the freestyle competitions, at the Hala Widowiskowo - Sportowa Arena Ursyn?w in the Polish capital city of Warsaw, Abbas Tahan defeated his Georgian opponent Elizbar Odikadze 3-1 in the last encounter of men’s 97-kilogram weight category and collected the gold medal.
Tahan, who had been the first round off, also routed Turkey’s Yusuf Can Zeybek 9-2 in the second, before defeating Kyrgyz wrestler Aleksei Krupnyakov 8-6 in the next competition. The Iranian freestyle wrestler overwhelmed Polish competitor Radoslav Baran 6-4 in the semi-final round and advanced to the final bout.
Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian also picked up the bronze medal in the same weight class, after his Turkish rival Ibrahim Bolukbasi did not show up for the third-place bout.
In the 74-kilogram category, Iran’s Alireza Ghasemi won his contest against Japanese athlete Sosuke Takatani 4-0 to take home another gold medal.
Morteza Rezaei Qaleh also prevailed over a representative from Germany 5-2 and grabbed the bronze in the same weight class.
The Poland Open, Ziolkowski & Pytlasinski 2015 wrestling tournament opened in Warsaw on July 24 and will wrap up on July 26.
Dozens of athletes from various countries, including Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania, Russia and Turkey, are taking part in the event.
While male freestyle wrestlers vied in the 57-kilogram, 61-kilogram, 65-kilogram, 70-kilogram, 74-kilogram, 86-kilogram, 97-kilogram and 125-kilogram weight categories on July 24, Greco-Roman athletes are competing on July 25 and 26 to clinch a medal in the 59-kilogram, 66-kilogram, 71-kilogram, 75-kilogram, 80-kilogram, 85-kilogram, 98-kilogram and 130-kilogram sections.