#WrestleCoralville

I wasn't as aggressive as I could have been: Snyder after beating Ghasempour

Thursday, December 15, 2022 - 16:56 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

CORALVILLE, Iowa (December 15) -- Kyle SNYDER (USA) has been one of the most dominant wrestlers of his weight class 97kg for more than half a decade now. And barring a couple of wrestlers, few have troubled him since he won his first World Championships at home turf at the 2015 Las Vegas World Championships.

When the World Cup in Iowa presented another opportunity to compete in front of his home crowd, Snyder promptly grabbed the opportunity.

As the leader of the USA team, Snyder led the hosts to a thrilling win over Iran as it captured its 15th World Cup on Sunday with a 6-4 win over its arch-rivals. It was Snyder who won the sixth bout and sealed the deal for Iran.

For the last four years, Iran has bet upon Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) as its mainstay at 97kg. But with medalless performances at the Tokyo Olympics and Belgrade World Championships, it is left to ponder on other options.

U23 world champion Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) was selected for the World Cup and he did well to beat the world silver medalist Batyrbek TSAKULOV (UWW) in the group stages. However, Iran decided to bump the two-time world champion at 92kg Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) at 97kg for the final against the USA.

It did not take Snyder by surprise. He was actually pleased that Ghasempour decided to jump up for the dual and gave fans a contest.

"He [Ghasempour] weighed in at 92kg," Snyder said. "I thought he might wrestle [at 97kg]. Maybe it's better for the dual. It was cool that he came up."

The Rio Olympic champion, however, did not let Ghasempour settle for six minutes. From the first whistle, it was Snyder who dominated the bout, pressured Ghasempour and ultimately won 5-0.

Part of his strategy was to take Ghasempour's game to him and wrestle as hard as possible.

"Just wrestling hard," Snyder said. "I know he [Ghasempour] wrestles hard and I have seen him wrestle. I knew how to be aggressive, take his game to him."

Ghasempour did get to Snyder's legs a few times but failed to convert any of the attacks. With the weight difference and Snyder's heavy wrestling, Ghasempour felt the heat and failed to match the pace of the bout.

Snyder, on the other hand, knew from the beginning that Ghasempour will not be able to withstand the pressure despite Snyder not being as aggressive as he could have been. Snyder said that he liked the bout as it was on his home turf against a good wrestler who stopped him from winning 10-0.

"My number one option is 10-zip but then the number two option is let me be the closer," he said. "I always like to wrestle good wrestlers. I just love to compete and am ready to go. Especially on the home turf, I am always going to be here. [In the bout], I felt I was in good control from the beginning even though I was winning by a point. I wasn't as aggressive as I could have been."

Iran will now have to rethink its strategy of promoting Ghasempour to 97kg. With the 2024 Paris Olympics quotas available at the 2023 World Championships, it will have to quickly find a way to break the drought at 97kg.

Snyder won the World Championships and remained unbeaten at the World Cup but believes that the 97kg weight class will be an interesting one going into Paris Olympics.

"We got a lot of good guys up there [97kg]," he said. "Him [Mohammadian], a bunch of other dudes so you don't know how it's going to work out."

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open 2026 Day 1: Gamkrelidze beats Valencia; Sujeet, Lee in finals

Wednesday, February 4, 2026 - 09:34 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 4) -- The Zagreb Open 2026 begins with six weight classes in Freestyle -- 57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 74kg and 86kg. Stars like Zahid ZALENCIA (USA),  Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN), AMAN (IND) are in action.

Please read the 2026 SEASON PREVIEW on uww.org

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | PREVIEW

Here's a recap of the morning session: 61kg medalists are already decided with Austin DESANTO (USA) winning gold and AMAN (IND) finishing with silver. 

Spencer LEE (USA) and Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) will face each other in the 57kg gold medal bout. SUJEET (IND) won two bouts via technical superiority and will now wrestle for gold at 65kg. At 74kg, a big final is set as David CARR (USA) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) will clash. And at 86kg, world champion Zahid VALENCIA (USA) and 79kg world champion Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), who is now up at 86kg dropped their opening bouts. However, with Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) making it to the final, Valencia is pulled back while Kougioumtsidis has been knocked out.

13:38: Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO), who defeated Zahid VALENCIA (USA) in the opening bout at 86kg, scores a late stepout to take a 2-2 criteria lead and beat Abolfazl SHAMSIPOUR (IRI) at 86kg semifinals. Gamkrelidze will wrestle Parker KEKEISEN (USA) for gold after he scored a 9-5 victory over Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) in the other semifinal.

13:20: 74kg semifinals - David CARR (USA) with another technical superiority win at 74kg. He advances to the final after beating Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) 12-1. Four different takedowns and two gut-wrenches in that win for the American. A huge final coming up as world champion at 70kg Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) hangs on for a 4-3 win over Seyfulla ITAEV (FRA). The French wrestlers was up 2-1 but Aoyagi scored a stepout and takedown before giving up a stepout but managed to win the bout.

13:05: 70kg semifinals - Sina KHALILI (IRI), U23 world silver medalist, rolls to a 10-0 victory over ABHIMANYOU (IND) using gut-wrenches. He makes it to the final and will wrestle Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO) for the gold medal. The Georgian defended his lead against Caleb HENSON (USA) to win 6-3. After leading 6-0, Kemertelidze gave up a takedown and then a stepout to Henson. But the American could not score the four points needed to win the semifinals.

12:55: 65kg semifinals - SUJEET (IND) continues his dominance at 65kg, beating Joseph MCKENNA (USA), 11-0 in the semifinal in semifinal. He will now wrestle for gold against Peyman NEMATI (IRI) who scored a comeback win over Gamzatgadzhi KHALIDOV (HUN). The Hungarian had a 2-0 lead before Nemati managed to turn it around and complete a 4-2 win

12:40: 57kg semifinals - Spencer LEE (USA) completes a dominant 10-2 victory over Fuga SASAKI (JPN). He managed an early 6-2 and then continued to dominate the match, eventually winning 12-2. He will face Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) for the gold medal after the Mexican defeated Milad VALIZADEH (IRI). Bravo Young kept his false attacks and change of direction was excellent throughout the bout

Semifinals begin at 12:30 local time

So far, world champion Zahid VALENCIA (USA) has suffered a technical superiority loss at 86kg while Takara SUDA (JPN), moving up from 61kg to 65kg, dropped his match against Joseph MCKENNA (USA). At 61kg, Austin DESANTO (USA) has captured the gold medal after winning three bouts in a Nordic bracket

12:15: In what was a virtual final at 61kg, Austin DESANTO (USA) not only needed a victory over AMAN (IND), he also need to win via technical superiority or fall. He does exactly that by pinning Aman after taking an 8-0 lead and win the gold medal at 61kg. Aman finishes with a silver medal.

12:12: U23 world champion SUJEET (IND) finishes his quarterfinal at 65kg with a 10-0 victory over Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) and sets up a quarterfinal against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) who defeated Takara SUDA (JPN) 7-0 in the other quarterfinal.

12:08: Sina KHALILI (IRI) took a 9-1 lead over Ian PARKER (USA) but was gave a stepout with a minute remaining. However, he had little trouble holding on to his 9-3 lead and win his bout at 70kg.

12:00: Olympic silver medalist Spencer LEE (USA) hangs on for an easy 4-0 victory over European silver medalist Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) at 57kg. He moves into the semifinals in which he will wrestle Fuga SASAKI (JPN)

11:55: Fuga SASAKI (JPN) hangs on for a 7-1 victory over ANKUSH (IND) in 57kg quarterfinals. Sasaki goes for three takedown and one stepout in his win over Ankush who failed to get any attacks going.

11:50: Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO) shuts down Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) at 70kg for a 3-0 win. Not much action in the match but Kemertelidze is happy with the win here.

11:45: Roman BRAVO-YOUNG (MEX) continues his excellent form and wins his quarterfinal against Anthony KNOX (USA), 12-2. He will wrestle in the semifinal at 57kg.

11:35: World champion Zahid VALENCIA (USA), who did not concede a single point at the World Championships, drops his quarterfinal against Vladimir GAMKRELIDZE (GEO), 11-0. Gut-wrench from par terre for Gamkrelidze

11:25: Former U20 world bronze medalist ANKUSH (IND) uses the Figure 4 turn to great effect to beat Ali YAHYAPOUR (IRI), 11-0, at 57kg. Ankush has long been seen as the biggest challenge to Olympic bronze medalist AMAN (IND) at the weight class

11:15: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) off to solid starts at 86kg as he takes out Sandeep MANN (IND) 11-0 in the opening bout at 86kg. Valencia is the world champion at 86kg, a title he won at the same Arena Zagreb in September last year

11:05: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN), world champion at 70kg, makes his 74kg debut with a controlled 6-1 victory over James GREEN (USA). Aoyagi scored a stepout to lead 2-1 before scoring two counter takedowns to finish the bout as the winner.

10:55: David CARR (USA) took his own time to get going but he manages a victory via fall over Aliakbar FAZLI (IRI) after building a 13-2 lead at 74kg.

10:45: World champion at 79kg Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) seemed in complete control of his first bout at 86kg against Abolfazl SHAMSIPOUR (IRI), leading 6-1 with a minute remaining. However, Shamsipour mounts a comeback, scoring six points in the final minute and beat the Greek world champion 7-6  

10:40: First period technical superiority, 10-0, win for AMAN (IND) against Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) who is in action for the first time since winning a gold medal at the Ulaanbaatar Open in June last year.

10:30: Welcome to the Zagreb Open Ranking Series. Day one of the competition and we have six Freestyle weight classes in action. Multiple Olympic and world medalists in action today.