Iran's Tokyo Olympic Lineup Set

Wednesday, June 16, 2021 - 14:22 By Ali Feizasa

TEHRAN, Iran (June 17) --- Iran finished the '16 Olympic Games with five medals (one gold, one silver and one bronze in freestyle and two bronze in Greco-Roman). From the five Rio Olympic medal winners, superstar Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) is the only returning Olympic representative. The other ten will experience their first Olympics in Tokyo.

"The Greatest," Yazdani has the chance to make history in Iran by winning his second gold medal in Olympic Games.

Iran line-up for Tokyo Olympic Games:

ATRI

Men’s Freestyle:
57kg - Reza ATRI
After the retirement of Hassan RAHIMI, Reza Atri became the number one wrestler in Iran at 57kg. Atri earned the Olympic spot for Iran after he placed fifth at '19 World Championships in Nur-sultan. The '19 Asian champion defeated youngster Rahman AMOUZAD KHALILI Khalili in the team trials and was selected for Olympic Games.

65kg- Morteza GHIASI
Amir Mohammad YAZDANI secured Iran's ticket to Tokyo at the Asian Olympic Qualifier, but Yazdani lost to Morteza GHIASI and will miss the Olympic Games. Ghiasi, a '21 Asian bronze medalist, beat Yazdani by fall in the team trials and earned the right to represent Iran at 65kg.

74kg- Mostafa HOSSEINKHANI
Iran's coaching board decided to send two 74kg wrestlers to the Poland Open to determine their 74kg team member. Hosseinkhani, the '16 world bronze medalist and Younes EMAMI, a '19 world bronze medalist at 70kg, competed in Poland but didn’t meet each other.

It was Emami who earned the Olympic spot for Iran at the Asian Qualifier, but he fell to Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE) while Hosseinkhani succeeded to beat the Azeri, 3-0, in their semifinal mee

SIDE NOTE: Hosseinkhani holds five Asian medals -- including two gold (2014 & 2016) -- and one world bronze medal (2016).

yazdani

86kg- Hassan YAZDANI
Iranian superstar Hassan Yazdani has aimed to be the first Iranian wrestler in history to obtains two Olympic gold medals. But one of Yazdani's toughest rivals is not only inside of Iran -- but he's inside of his town, Juybar! Kamran GHASEMPOUR, the two-time Asian champion and two-time U23 world champion, competed against Yazdani in the team trials. But, like last year, Yazdani downed Ghasempour, 5-3, and will represent Iran at 86kg.

The 27-year-old Yazdani has five world and Olympic medals in his collection ('16 Olympic gold, two world gold medals ('17 & '19), one world silver medal ('15), and one world bronze medal ('18).

97kg- Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian
Earning the Olympic quote was only the start for Iran's 97kg wrestlers. They had a difficult national trial at the Poland Open to determine the spot. Three Iranian contenders were looking for that 97kg Olympic. They were '14 world bronze medalist Mohammad MOHAMMADIAN, three-time world medalist Alireza KARIMI and '21 Asian champion Ali SHABANI.

Mohammadian grabbed the Tokyo ticket by defeating both of them and by winning gold in Poland.

125kg- Amir Hossein Zare
Like 74kg and 97kg, the same selection process was followed in Poland at 125kg between Amir ZARE and Amin TAHERI.

Zare, a U23 world champion, had a brilliant performance and captured gold while Taheri was eliminated after falling to the Egyptian wrestler. So, 21- year-old Zare received the Olympic spot and will represent Iran at heavyweight in Tokyo.

Nejati

Greco-Roman:
60kg- Alireza NEJATI
Nejati, the 23-year-old, was a newcomer at the '19 World Championships but by winning the bronze medal, he introduced himself to the 60kg weight class. Nejati tightened his place in the Iranian GR lineup as captured gold medal in at the Ukranian tournament.

67kg- Mohammadreza GERAEI
Mohammadreza Geraei earned the 67kg Olympic spot for Iran by winning gold amongst a couple of past world medalists, RYU Hansu (KOR) and Armen VARDANYAN (ARM). The strong performance from the '19 U23 world champion convinced head coach Maohammad BANA to select him for Tokyo Olympic Games.

77kg- Mohammad Ali GERAEI
The older brother is happy to see his younger brother beside him at the Olympic Games. Two-time world bronze medalist Mohammad Ali qualified for Tokto by winning a bronze medal in Nur-Sultan. Meanwhile, the trial for Iran 77kg Olympic spot was at the Ukrainian Tournament, where Geraei defeated Amin KAVIANINEJAD, 4-2, in the final match to receive a ticket to Tokyo.

Now, the Geraei brothers have the chance to make history by winning medal in Tokyo.

97kg: Mohammad Hadi SARAVI
The Poland Open acted as a team trial for at 97kg and 130kg. At 97kg, Mohammad Hadi Saravi, the one who achieved gold at the Asian Olympic Qualifier, met Iranian rival Mehdi BALI in the Poland Open finals earned his spot in Tokyo with a 3-0 win.

Amin

130kg- Amin MIRZAZADEH
At heavyweight, Amir GHASEMI placed fifth in Nur-Sultan to earn Olympic spot, while Ali Akbari YOUSEFI succeed to win gold at the '21 Asian championships but none of them represent Iran in Olympic Games.

During the Poland Open, Ghasemi was eliminated but Yousefi and Amin Mirazazadeh advanced to the final bout.

Mirzazadeh, the young and motivated '18 junior world champion, celebrated his Olympic license by winning the match, 3-1.

#WrestleZagreb

Saravi returns to final; Ganizade, Ghanem rematch for 72kg gold

Friday, September 19, 2025 - 16:52 By Ken Marantz

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 19) -- Paris Olympic champion Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) safely negotiated the minefield that was the draw of the stacked 97kg division, advancing to the final to earn a shot at capturing a second world title.

Saravi defeated Kiryl MASKEVICH (UWW) 3-1 in the semifinals Friday at the World Championships in Zagreb, putting him in Saturday's gold-medal match against Artur SARGSIAN (UWW) as the finals were set in three Greco weight classes.

In other finals, Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ) and Alisher GANIEV (UZB) will battle it out at 60kg, while the 72kg match will be a rematch of last year's final between defending champion Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE) and Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA).

Saravi, who avoided the upset bug that hit the legendary Artur ALEKSANYAN (AZE) and 2023 world champion Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) earlier in the day, executed a gut wrench from par terre against Maskevich, then hardly budged when he was put on the bottom in the second period.

The victory gives Saravi, who won his third straight Asian title and fourth overall this year, a shot at regaining the world title he won in 2021. He also has an Olympic bronze and world silver and bronze medals to his credit.

Sargsian, a 2021 bronze medalist, earned his place in the final with a 1-1 victory over Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE), prevailing on the criteria of receiving the first of two passivity points.

Following an opening victory by technical superiority, it was Sargsian's third straight victory by a 1-1 scoreline, an aspect that is totally irrelevant to him.

"I don’t care about the score, the important thing is that they raised my hand," Sargsian said. "All my life I tried to win ahead of time, to get 8-0 in every match -- and for what? It didn’t lead to anything good. I’m 27 years old and I still have only world championship medal. So for me, three times 1-1 is the same as three times 8-0."

For Sargsian, the final gives him a chance to avenge a loss to Saravi from the 2021 World Championships, when the Iranian defeated him 6-4 in the first round in Oslo.

"I’m very glad that tomorrow I’ll finally have my long-awaited rematch with Saravi," Sargsian said. "It adds extra excitement that now he is not only a world champion, but also an Olympic champion."

At 60kg, Asian silver medalist Ganiev will get a chance to become just the second Uzbekistan wrestler to win a world Greco title after holding on to win a 5-5 thriller
over European silver medalist Georgij TIBILOV (SRB).

Ganiev was on top in par terre, trailing on criteria because he received the second passivity point, when he lifted Tibilov and executed a nifty cartwheel for a 4-pointer and a 5-4 lead.

But Tibilov, a world bronze medalist at 63kg in 2023, was not going down easily, and he pressured Ganiev at the edge for a takedown, then added a second one. But
that was all he could get, and Ganiev won on big-point criteria.

The victory avenged a 6-4 loss to Tibilov in the final of the Zagreb Open in the same arena back in February.

Uzbekistan's lone title in Greco came back in 2001, when Dilshod ARIPOV (UZB) won the 58kg gold in Patras, Greece.

Sultangali, who has world bronze medals from 2018 and 2022, will get a shot at his first gold after putting on a late surge and defeating Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO)
10-2 in the other semifinal.

Sultangali trailed 2-1 when he bulled Shavadze over for a 4-point takedown with :30 left, then added a gut wrench. An unsuccessful challenge made it 8-2 before Shavadze gave up the fight and allowed a stepout with fleeing penalty point with :03 left.

Kazakhstan has won five Greco world golds through three wrestlers, but hasn't had put one on the top of the medal podium since 1999, when Mkhtar MANUKYAN
(KAZ) won the second of his back-to-back titles at 63kg in Athens.

At 72kg, a second potential Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan match-up failed to come to fruition when both countries' wrestlers lost in the semifinals. Instead, it will be
Ganizade and Ghanem going at it for the second consecutive year.

Ganizade scored all of his points in the first period in a 5-0 victory over Asian silver medalist Abdullo ALIEV (UZB). He slipped behind for a takedown, then added a gut wrench before getting the lone passivity point to cap the first period.

In the other semifinal, Ghanem was leading a close match 3-2 as it was winding down when he countered Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ) for 4-point throw.

Maulitkanov just remained lying on the mat, officially giving Ghanem a victory by fall in 5:49.

RESULTS

Greco-Roman

60kg (25 entries)
SF 1: Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ) df. Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO) by TF, 10-2, 5:57
SF 2: Alisher GANIEV (UZB) df. Georgij TIBILOV (SRB), 5-5

72kg (30 entries)
SF 1: Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE) df. Abdullo ALIEV (UZB), 5-0
SF 2: Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) df. Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ) by Fall, 5:49 (7-2)

97kg (29 entries)
SF 1: Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) df. Kiryl MASKEVICH (UWW), 3-1
SF 2: Artur SARGSIAN (UWW) df. Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE), 1-1

Iran's Tokyo Olympic Lineup Set

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Saravi returns to final; Ganizade, Ghanem rematch for 72kg gold