#WrestleUlaanbaatar

Iran and Mongolia Capture Titles at First U23 Asian Championships

By Ali Feizasa

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (March 24) - The host country Mongolia captured the women’s wrestling title at the first edition of the U23 Asian Championships, while Iran's team shined, winning team titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

On the final day of wrestling in Ulaanbaatar, Iran took home three golds and a silver in four freestyle weight categories and captured the team title with 200 points (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze). Mongolia was the runner-up with 177 points (3 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze) and Kazakhstan finished in third place with 146 points (1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze).

Abbas FOROUTAN, the 2018 junior world champion, and two-time junior world medal winner Ahmad BAZRI were the Iranian stars who won the 97kg and 86kg gold medals respectively.  Bazri and Foroutan won three of their four matches by technical superiority.

But the most exciting match of the tournament came in the 70kg finals bout where ENKHTUYA Temuulen (MGL) defeated Farhad NOURI (IRI), 11-11 on criteria to make the host fans happy in the closing match of the tournament.

TSOGT OCHIR Namuuntsetseg (MGL) helped the host nation win the team title with her 50kg gold-medal performance. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka) 

In women’s wrestling, the host country Mongolia won four gold medals. India also won four gold medals, while the other two titles went to Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei.

Mongolia, who won medals in all ten weight categories, earned the women’s wrestling team title with 200 points (4 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze), followed by India 190 points (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) and Kazakhstan 162 points (1 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze).

TSOGT OCHIR Namuuntsetseg (MGL) won a gold medal at 50kg as she downed all three rivals by technical superiority. 

Reigning junior world champion Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI) won the 72kg title outscoring his opponents 35-1. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne) 

In Greco-Roman, Iran and Kyrgyzstan had a close battle for the team title. Both countries had four golds and two bronze medal winners, but Iran grabbed one more silver medal and captured the title with 202 points (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze). Kyrgyzstan placed second with 182 points (4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze), and Kazakhstan came third with 167 points (2 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze).

The stars of the Greco-Roman competitions were Iranian Amin KAVIYANINEJAD and Roman KIM from Kyrgyzstan.

Kavianinejad, the 2018 junior world champion, stormed into 72kg gold medal by defeating all four his opponents by technical superiority, outscoring them 35 to 1. 

Meanwhile, heavyweight wrestler Roman Kim wrapped up two bouts against Iran and India by fall. He also finished his matches against Mongolia and Kazakhstan via technical superiority and captured 130kg gold medal.

RESULTS

Greco-Roman
(The competition of all weight categories of Greco-Roman was held in Nordic System and all wrestlers in each weight competed with each other in one group.)

Team Standings:
1- Iran 202 pts (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
2- Kyrgyzstan 182 pts (4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
3- Kazakhstan 167 pts (2 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze)
4- India 128 pts (1 silver, 2 bronze)
5- Mongolia 120 pts (1 silver, 1 bronze)
6- Tajikistan 20 pts (1 silver)

55kg 
GOLD - Sardarbek KONUSHBAEV (KGZ)
SILVER - Poya DAD MARZ (IRI)
BRONZE - MUNKH ERDENE Davaabandi (MGL)

60kg
GOLD - Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
SILVER - Dastan ZARLYKHANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE - Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)

63kg
GOLD- Meysam DALKHANI (IRI)
SILVER- Elmar TALANBEK UULU (KGZ)
BRONZE- Vijay VIJAY (IND)

67kg
GOLD- Nurbek KYZYROV (KAZ)
SILVER- Khanburged GANKHUYAG (MGL)
BRONZE- Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)

72kg
GOLD- Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI)
SILVER- Daler REZAZADE (TJK)
BRONZE- Bek KONURBAEV (KGZ)

77kg
GOLD- Renat ILIAZ UULU (KGZ)
SILVER- Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI)
BRONZE- Kaharman KISSYMETOV (KAZ)

82kg
GOLD- Mahdi EBRAHIMI (IRI)
SILVER- Kuanyshbek DOSZHANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Sanjeet SANJEET (IND)

87kg
GOLD- Mohammad Hadi SARVI (IRI)
SILVER- Kalidin ASYKEEV (KGZ)
BRONZE- Meirbek KORDABAY (KAZ)

97kg
GOLD- Olzhas SYRLYBAY (KAZ)
SILVER- Ravi RAVI (IND)
BRONZE- Hassan ARYANEZHAD (IRI)

130kg
GOLD- Roman KIM (KGZ)
SILVER- Aliakbar YOUSOFI (IRI)
BRONZE- Sarkis PSHENICHNIKOV (KAZ)

Freestyle Results

Team Standings:
1- Iran 200 pts (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
2- Mongolia 177 pts (3 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze)
3- Kazakhstan 146 pts (1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze)
4- India 140 pts (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
5- Kyrgyzstan 114 pts (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
6- Turkmenistan 75 pts (2 silver)
7- China 29 pts
8- Singapore 10 pts
9- Yemen 8 pts

57kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in one group)
GOLD- Rahul RAHUL (IND)
SILVER- Bekbolot MYRZANAZAR UULU (KGZ)
BRONZE- Chinzorig TSERMAA (MGL)

61kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in two groups)
GOLD- Ulukbek ZHOLDOSHBEKOV (KGZ) df. Sonba Tanaji GONGANE (IND, 13 – 2
BRONZE- Mohammad NAMJOU MOTLAGH (IRI) df. Assyl AITAKYN (KAZ), 3 - 0

65kg
GOLD- Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL) df. Amirmohammad YAZDANICHERATI (IRI) by FALL
BRONZE- Parveen PARVEEN (IND) df. Weilesu WEILESU (CHN), 6 – 3
BRONZE- Ilyas ZHUMAY (KAZ) df. Zi Xyan LIM (SGP), 10 – 0

70kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in two groups)
GOLD- Temuulen ENKHTUYA (MGL) df. Farhad Jafar NOURI KHORJESTAN (IRI), 11 - 11
BRONZE- Aidyn TAZHIGALI (KAZ) df. Islambek OROZBEKOV (KGZ), 12 – 2

74kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in two groups)
GOLD- Otgonbayar BATSUURI (MGL) df. Navid Morad ZANGANEH (IRI) by FALL
BRONZE- Darkhan YESSENGALI (KAZ) df. Bekzhan DZHAMBULOV (KGZ), 5 – 2

79kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in one group)
GOLD- Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI)
SILVER- Veer Dev GULIA (IND)
BRONZE- Atai IZABEKOV (KGZ)

86kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in one group)
GOLD- Ahmad BAZRI (IRI)
SILVER- Dovletmyrat ORAZGYLYJOV (TKM)
BRONZE- Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL)

92kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in one group)
GOLD- Arashk MOHEBI (IRI)
SILVER- Azat GAJYYEV (TKM)
BRONZE- Tsogtgerel MUNKHBAATAR (MGL)

97kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in one group)
GOLD- Abbas FOROUTAN (IRI)
SILVER- Zhassulan YERMENBET (KAZ)
BRONZE- Mungunshagai TUMURBAT (MGL)

125kg (The competition of this weight was held in Nordic System in two groups)
GOLD- Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) df. Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) by FALL
BRONZE- Mohammad MORADI (IRI) df. Muzafar ZHAPPUEV (KGZ), 11 – 9

Women’s Wrestling Results

Team Standings:
1- Mongolia 200 pts (4 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze)
2- India 190 pts (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
3- Kazakhstan 162 pts (1 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze)
4- Chinese Taipei 37 pts (1 gold)
5- Kyrgyzstan 32 pts (1 silver)


50kg
GOLD- Namuuntsetseg TSOGT OCHIR (MGL)
SILVER- Svetlana ANKICHEVA (KAZ)
BRONZE-Jyoti JYOTI (IND)

53kg
GOLD- Khaliunaa BAYARAA (MGL)
SILVER- Reena REENA (IND)
BRONZE- Ellada MAKHYADDINOVA (KAZ)

55kg
GOLD- Marina SEDNEVA (KAZ)
SILVER- Anju ANJU (IND)
BRONZE- Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL)

57kg
GOLD- Khongorzul BOLDSAIKHAN (MGL)
SILVER-Nuraida ANARKULOVA (KGZ)
BRONZE- Yekaterina FIRSTOVA (KAZ)

59kg
GOLD- Kumari MANJU (IND)
SILVER-Madina BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ)
BRONZE- Otgonbayar PUREV (MGL)

62kg
GOLD- Purevsuren ULZIISAIKHAN (MGL)
SILVER- Irina KUZNETSOVA (KAZ)
BRONZE- Radhika RADHIKA (IND)

65kg
GOLD- Tina TINA (IND)
SILVER- Bolortuya KHURELKHUU (MGL)
Tina TINA (IND) df. Bolortuya KHURELKHUU (MGL), 13 – 2

68kg
GOLD- Divya KAKRAN (IND)
SILVER-Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
BRONZE- Valeriya GONCHAROVA (KAZ)

72kg
GOLD- Naina NAINA (IND)
SILVER- Alexandra ZAITSEVA (KAZ)
BRONZE- Tsogzolmaa DORJSUREN (MGL)

76kg
GOLD- Hui Tsz CHANG (TPE)
SILVER- Pooja POOJA (IND)
BRONZE- Zagardulam NAIGALSUREN (MGL)

#WrestleZagreb

Lee strikes gold as U.S., Iran shine at Zagreb Open

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 5) -- Spencer LEE (USA) did not compete internationally, for circumstances beyond his control, for eight years after winning his U20 world title in 2016. But in a year since he came back in February 2024, Lee has competed in six tournaments in less than a year.

Lee competed at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix in January and won gold. Two weeks later he won the Zagreb Open gold medal at 57kg on Wednesday, marking his debut at a Ranking Series event.

The Paris Olympic silver medalist led a strong performance of the wrestlers from United States as they won two gold medals as six weight classes concluded on day one of the Zagreb Open at Arena Zagreb.

Lee did not look as dominant as he did in Paris before the final but still managed to pull out a good defensive game and win the gold medal with rather ease.

In the final, Lee defeated Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2, after a similar win over Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) in the semifinals. He opened the day with an 11-0 drubbing of Luka GVINJILIA (GEO).

"It's good to get competition right now," Lee said. "[It] showed that I'm really not ready yet."

Though Lee was not convinced about his readiness, his coach Dan DENNIS kept pushing Lee and reminded him of the progress he is making bout after bout.

"I think it [progress] comes from being more successful early and then I was in on three shots, kicked out of all three of them," he said. "He's (Dan Dennis) just saying that you just kind of kept progressing. You even got taken down, good counter from him, got to keep wrestling, keep moving."

In the final, Lee scored two takedowns, first one a double-leg and second a counter, as his scoring actions to beat Bazarganov, a bronze medalist at the European Championships last year.

The win takes second-ranked Lee to 43000 ranking points, same as top ranked Rei HIGUCHI (JPN), the gold medalist from Paris Olympics. If Lee can finish top eight at any other Ranking Series or Pan-Am Championships, he will move to the top. However, Lee was not sure if he will be in action internationally before the World Championships.

"I think that ranking tournaments are awesome because good guys come," he said. "The points are obviously a nice bonus to that just because you can get seeded in the bracket. I love competing. Obviously I need more of it. So maybe. This tournament was tough. So good for me."

Zahid VALENCIA (USA)Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won the 86kg gold medal in Zagreb. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Zahid VALENCIA (USA) was the second gold medalist for the U.S. as he won gold medal at 86kg after beating Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0, in the final. Valencia was good with his counters and after building a 4-0 lead at the break, he scored two more takedown in the second period to win the gold medal.

The two bronze medals at this weight class went to Nathan JACKSON (USA) and Trent HIDLAY (USA), making sure all three U.S. wrestlers finish on the podium at the weight class.

Ahmad JAVAN (IRI)Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ibrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 in the 61kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Iran wins 2 golds

Iran also won two gold medals but the tournament left it with more questions than answers for the Asian Championships team.

At 61kg, Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ebrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 to confirm his spot for the Asian Championships. Khari, who won silver at the U20 World Championships last year, failed to give Javan a fight in the final.

Prior to the final, Javan defeated Nashon GARRETT (USA) 7-2 in the quarterfinals and Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) 9-3 in the semifinals.

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI)Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) defeated Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) undoubtedly gave Iran its biggest win of the day as he came back to beat Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final.

McKenna got the first two takedowns to lead 4-0 before Ebrahim answered with his own to lead 4-4 at the break. Ebrahim began the second period with another takedown to go ahead 6-4 but with less than a minute to go, McKenna hit ankle pick and transitioned into a leg-attack. He scored a takedown to lead 6-6 on criteria.

In the dying seconds of the bout, Ebrahim  tried a front headpinch but McKenna defended it as he had Ebrahim's one leg locked. However, the Iranian managed to get his leg out of McKenna's hands, he tried to circle back and complete a takedown but McKenna held his knee pad which was penalized as one point, giving the win to Ebrahim 7-6.

The United States challenged that call but it remained and McKenna was docked one more point for lost challenge, making the score 8-6.

Both Iran and the U.S. had two silver medalists as well after Sina KHALILI (IRI) lost the final at 70kg and David CARR (USA) dropped the final at 74kg.

Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE), a former U20 world champion, gave no chance to Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final and shut him down for a 12-1 win victory.

The weight class also had Paris Olympian and 2023 world champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) who was stunned in the first bout of the day by Jarrett JACKQUES (USA) who scored a takedown in his 3-2 win Muszukajev.

Carr ran into three-time world medalist Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) in the final and finished with a silver medal at 74kg.

Salkazanov scored a takedown on each side of the break to complete a 4-0 win.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: Spencer LEE (USA) df. Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2

BRONZE: Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) df. Luka GVINJILIA (GEO), 11-2 
BRONZE: Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) df. Ahora KHATERI (IRI), 11-0

61kg
GOLD: Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) df. Ebrahim KHARI (IRI), 10-0

BRONZE: Nahshon GARRETT (USA) df. Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO), 16-11
BRONZE: Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE) df. Reza MOMENI (IRI), 8-4

65kg
GOLD: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) df. Joseph MC KENNA (USA), 8-6

BRONZE: Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) df. Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR), 2-2
BRONZE: Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE) df. Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), 6-0

70kg
GOLD: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. Sina KHALILI (IRI), 12-1

BRONZE: Austin GOMEZ (MEX) df. Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI), 9-3
BRONZE: Vasile DIACON (MDA) df. James GREEN (USA), via inj. def.

74kg
GOLD: Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) df. David CARR (USA), 4-0

BRONZE: Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN) df. Kamil RYBICKI (POL), 10-0
BRONZE: Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) df. Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE), 3-2

86kg
GOLD: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) df. Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0

BRONZE: Nathan JACKSON (USA) df. Matthew FINESILVER (ISR), 12-2
BRONZE: Trent HIDLAY (USA) df. Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO), 10-4