#Zagreb2019

Iran Enters Young Team into Deep Zagreb Open Field

By Eric Olanowski

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 6) – Iran will be sending a full team to the Zagreb Open, but it surely won’t be the same team they'll be sending to Astana, Kazakhstan for the 2019 World Championships. 

Every wrestler Iran registered for the first Ranking Series event of the year will be making their senior-level international debuts, and only Abolfazl SEYEDMAHDAVI, who finished in eighth place at the 2019 Takhti Cup in Tehran, Iran, has wrestled domestically on the senior-level. 

Though it’s an extremely young team, eight of the ten Iranian wrestlers bring age-group world-level experience into this weekend, with six of those wrestlers boasting world championship medals on their resumes.

The trio of cadet world champions, Poya DAD MARZ (55kg), Mohsen MADHANI (63kg), and Yousef HOSSEINVAND FATHI (72kg) lead the lower half of the Iranian lineup, while 2018 U23 world bronze medalist Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (130kg) and 2018 cadet world bronze medalist Mohammad NAGHOUSI (77kg) close out the back half of their youthful lineup. 

You can watch the young Iranian squad compete at the Zagreb Open on Saturday (February 9), live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

Iran’s Zagreb Open Lineup 
55kg - Poya DAD MARZ – 2017 junior world champion 
60kg - Milad REZANEZHAD HOSSEINVAND – 2017 cadet world championships - 17th place 
63kg-  Mohsen MADHANI – 2017 cadet world champion 
67kg - Mohammad Reza Hojatollah MOKHTARI – 2016 cadet world runner-up 
72kg - Yousef Hajiali HOSSEINVAND FATHI – 2016 cadet world champion, 2018 junior world bronze
77kg - Mohammad Aziz NAGHOUSI – 2018 cadet world bronze medalist
82kg - Hosein FOROUZANDEH GHOJEHBEIGLOU – 2018 junior world championships - 8th place 
87kg - Hasan FOROUZANDEH GHOJEHBEIGLOU
97kg - Abolfazl Naser SEYEDMAHDAVI – 2019 Takhti Cup -  8th place 
130kg - Aliakbar Hossein YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI – 2018 U23 world bronze

#WrestleBratislava

UWW to test new Greco rule at 2025 European Championships

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 28) -- United World Wrestling Technical Commission has approved the testing of a Greco-Roman rule change at the European Championships next month.

According to the new rule in Greco-Roman, in case a bout ends 1-1, victory will be awarded to the wrestler who scored the first point. This modification will be implemented exclusively in Greco-Roman and will apply only to matches that end in a 1-1 tie.

The change, which is only being tested, was approved after the new UWW Technical Commission reviewed the current regulations. It unanimously acknowledged that the existing rule, which awards victory to the athlete who scores the last point, may unintentionally encourage passivity at the start of the bout.

Following the discussions, the Commission agreed to test the proposed change of awarding victory to the wrestler who scores the first point during the 2025 Senior European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia to be held from April 7-13.

Additional senior Continental Championships or international tournaments may also be selected for further testing. United World Wrestling will provide updates should additional test events be required.