#WrestleAlmaty

LIVE BLOG: Senior Asian Championships, Day One

By United World Wrestling Press

Greco-Roman wrestling on day one saw 5 new Asian champions as Iran picked up three gold medal while Japan and Kazakhstan picked up one each in Almaty.

Asian Olympic Qualifier Recap: 36 wrestling quotas decided for Tokyo Olympics through #WrestleAlmaty

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

2030 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Third of the night for Iran. Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) gets the job done with an easy 5-1 victory over Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ) to cap off a success day for the Greco powerhouse

1955 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Naser ALIZADEH is wrestling first time internationally and he picks up the gold medal at the Asian Championships. He beats Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) 3-1 in the 87kg final

1920 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Daler REZA ZADE (TJK) had the chance to become his country's first ever Greco-Roman Asian champion but he pulls out because of injury and Pejman POSHTAM (IRI) is crowned the champion at 77kg

1855 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ) with a stunning headlock and four points. He holds Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) to the back and wins the gold medal.

1848 hrs: Dalkhani with takedown to lead 3-0 but Assetuly goes big with a four-pointer. He will lead 4-3 at the break

1845 hrs: Matteo Pellicone silver medalist Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ) is taking on U23 world champion Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) in the 63kg gold medal bout

1820 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) claims his first ever gold at an international event as he beats Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB) 17-7.

1800 hrs: Welcome back to the final session of day one of the Asian Championships here in Almaty. All the action will take place on Mat B

1430 hrs: Here are the results from the semifinals of the Greco-Roman 55kg, 63kg, 77kg, 87kg, 130kg

55kg
Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB) df Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI) 3-1
Yu SHIOTANI df Sandeep SANDEEP 9-0

63kg
Meysam DALKHANI df Hanjae CHUNG 8-5
Sultan ASSETULY df. Muhamad FWAZ via fall

77kg
Pejman POSHTAM df Gurpreet SINGH, 7-7
Daler REZA ZADE df. Demeu ZHADRAYEV, 7-2

87kg
Naser Ghasem ALIZADEH df. Rustam ASSAKALOV, 10-4
Atabek AZISBEKOV df. Seunghwan LEE, 6-3

130kg
Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI df Sukhrob FATTOEV, via dsq
Alimkhan SYZDYKOV df Minjoon KIM, via fall

1315 hrs: The semifinals are about to begin in Almaty.

1255 hrs: Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) uses his experience to keep Sunil KUMAR (IND) at bay and win the bout 3-1

1250 hrs: World championship bronze medalist Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) is leading defending Asia champion at 87kg Sunil KUMAR (IND) 3-0 at the break in their quarterfinal

1245 hrs: Bilan NALGIEV (UZB) challenged for a leg foul but he will lose it. Senior Asian Championships silver medalist Gurpreet SINGH (IND) will move into the semi-finals with a 11-8 at 77kg

1232 hrs: Down goes the defending champion! Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) fails to break Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) defence and it will be a 9-7 win for Iran

1230 hrs: Dalkhani called passive and Tasmuradov will get par terre. Can he make it count? It's 9-7 Dalkhani

1226 hrs: Dalkhani is penalised for twisting the fingers and Tasmuradov will get two points. It's 9-6 Dalkhani at the break. Both wrestlers have a caution each as well

1225 hrs: Dalkhani with another takedown and powerful gut to get two more. He extends his lead to 9-4

1223 hrs: Tasmuradov and Dalkhani on Mat B now. The Uzbek with a four pointer but a reversal for Dalkhani. He gets in a lift and a four for him as well. Dalkhani leads Tasmuradov 7-4

1211 hrs: Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ) delights the home crowd with a 7-1 win over Yeonghun NOH (KOR) on Mat C

1210 hrs: A win for Asian Championships silver medalist Pejman POSHTAM (IRI) via technical superiority. Iran wrestlers looking good so far

1200 hrs: Some big bouts coming up on Mat B. Pejman Soltanmorad POSHTAM (IRI) will wrestle next before 4x Asian Champion Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) takes on U23 world champ Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) 

1145 hrs: U23 World champion Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) is up and about. Huge 5-0 win for him in the first round of 63kg 

1130 hrs: Welcome to day one of the Asian Championships as we begin with Greco-Roman action in five weight categories. Today, we will crown champions in 55kg, 63kg, 77kg, 87kg, and 130kg

Iran strikes three golds to close ISG 2025

By Vinay Siwach

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (November 21) -- World champion Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) led an inspiring performance from Iran which captured three out of four gold medal on the final day of the Islamic Solidarity Games 2025 in Riyadh on Friday.

Zare, who won gold medal at 125kg in Zagreb in September, dominated his way to the gold in Riyadh outscoring his opponents 28-0 in three bouts.

Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) scores a takedown on Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN) during the 125kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Facing Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN) in the final, Zare combined his skills to score stepouts at win and also scored two takedowns to finish the match 10-0, capturing his fourth gold medal of the season.

Sharipov reached the final after securing a shocking win over world silver medalist Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE) 7-6 in the semifinal. Meshvildishvili had to mount a comeback in the second period after he was down 5-1 in the match. He managed to make it 6-6 but trailed on criteria and as he tried to score a stepout in the final 10 seconds, Sharipov managed to remain inside the zone to survive attack.

Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) tries to control Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) during the 97kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

At 97kg, a rematch between Olympic champion Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) and world silver medalist Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) was on the cards but Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) denied that as he defeated Tazhudinov 14-3 in the semifinals.

Azarpira and Aitmukhan faced each other in the final but the former was clearly the better wrestler as he blanked Aitmukhan 5-0 to win the gold medal. He scored three stepouts and Aitmukhan was cautioned when aggressively pushed Azarpira. One more stepout was enough for Azarpira to win the gold medal.

Tazhudinov declared himself injured in the bronze medal bout which gave Olympic bronze medalist Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) the medal.

Younes EMAMI (IRI)Younes EMAMI (IRI) reaches for the leg of Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE) during the 74kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Iran's gold rush began when former Asian champion Younes EMAMI (IRI) completed a 5-0 victory over Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE) at 74kg. Emami scored a takedown to take a 2-0 lead against Novruzov before pushing the Azerbaijan wrestler out of bounds twice before the break.

With a lead of 4-0, Emami began the second period on the aggressive and Novruzov was called passive. He failed to score in the 30-second period and Emami got another point to lead 5-0 which remained the winning score.

To reach the final, Emami had to go through 2024 world 70kg champion Norkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ) in the quarterfinals. The Iranian defeated the Kazakhstan wrestler 6-5 in a thriller.

With the three golds, Iran finished the tournament with four gold medal while Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan won one each.

Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE)Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) celebrates after beating Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) in their opening bout at 86kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Dzhioev's impressive gold

One of Iran's favorite to win gold medal, Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI), suffered a heartbreaking loss at 86kg to Arsenii DIZHOEV (AZE) who capped off an incredible day with gold after beating Khidir SAIPUDINOV (BRN) 5-1 in the final. 

The win over Ghasempour was quite impressive from Dzhioev. Down 3-0, he scored two takedowns and one point for Ghasempour's passivity to win the bout 5-3.

In the final against Saipudinov, he opened scored a takedown in the opening period after being called passive and giving up a point. He scored two stepouts and one point for passivity in the second period to win the final.

Ghasempour returned to win the bronze medal by beating Magomet EVLOEV (TJK), 7-0, in the bronze-medal bout.

RESULTS

74kg
GOLD: Younes EMAMI (IRI) df. Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE), 5-0

BRONZE: Orozbek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ) df. Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ), 4-2
BRONZE: Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) df. Fazli ERYILMAZ (TUR), 4-3

86kg
GOLD: Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) df. Khidir SAIPUDINOV (BRN), 5-1

BRONZE: Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) df. Magomet EVLOEV (TJK), 7-0
BRONZE: Osman GOCEN (TUR) df. Bekzat RAKHIMOV (KGZ), 10-2

97kg
GOLD: Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) df. Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ), 5-0

BRONZE: Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) df. Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), via inj. def.
BRONZE: Muhammad GULZAR (PAK) df. Rifat GIDAK (TUR), via fall (4-5)

125kg
GOLD: Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) df. Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN), 10-0

BRONZE: Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR) df. Arslanbek TURDUBEKOV (KGZ), 14-3
BRONZE: Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE) df. Abdelrahman SHEYATAN (EGY), 5-0