#WrestleAlmaty

LIVE BLOG: Senior Asian Championships, Day One

Tuesday, April 13, 2021 - 04:56 By United World Wrestling Press

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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

Esmaeili survives Jafarov shock to win ISG 2025 gold

Tuesday, November 18, 2025 - 18:51 By Vinay Siwach

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (November 18) -- He needed some strong defense to win the world title and on Tuesday, Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) needed some clutch offense to beat Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) for the second time in two one month.

Esmaeili and Jafarov clashed in the final of the 67kg weight class at the Islamic Solidarity Games 2025 in Riyad, Saudi Arabi and it seemed that the latter was on his way to upset the Olympic champion and avenge his loss from the World Championships final.

Down 3-3 on criteria, all seemed to be over for Esmaeili as the clock ticked down. In the last 10 seconds, Esmaeili worked on a double-arm lock and then managed to throw Jafarov in danger from standing for four points which changed the result and gave him the win.

Azerbaijan challenged the call but there was no change in the result and Esmaeili defeated Jafarov 8-3, to capture yet another gold medal this year after Asian and World Championships.

Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) throws Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) during their 67kg bout. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

In Zagreb, Esmaeili was put in par terre for third passivity call. Jafarov, down 2-1, needed a point to turn the result but he failed to score any points as Esmaeili defended the par terre position and captured his first world title.

Jafarov blamed a lapse in concentration in the final seconds that costed him the gold medal in Riyadh.

Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI)Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) won his fourth gold medal this year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Iran's other world champion from Zagreb, Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) made it seem a little easier as he defeated former world U20 champion Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ), 6-0, winning his third gold in one month.

Farokhi, who won gold at 82kg at the World Championships, moved to 87kg for U23 World Championships and won gold without giving up a point in Novi Sad. Just two weeks later, he now gold at 87kg on Tuesday.

Against Yevloyev in the final, Farokhi was awarded both par terre position which gave him a 2-0 lead. From the second par terre, he managed to score a point as he threw Yevloyev for a stepout. The Kazakhstan wrestler was docked two points for defensive foul making it 5-0.

Kazakhstan challenged the foul call but Yevloyev had clearly blocked Farokhi using his elbow on the Iranian's face. The lost challenged made it 6-0 for Farokhi, giving him the win.

Farokhi had a tough match in semifinals against world bronze medalist Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) and needed a takedown in the final minute to win 7-6, first time he has shown some difficulty winning bouts.

Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) won the 77kg gold medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Two other gold medals were awarded on Tuesday with former U23 world champion Alisher GANIEV (UZB) winning the 60kg one and two-time Olympic medalist Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) marking his comeback with gold medal at 77kg.

Makhmudov, who has not wrestled in a full tournament since winning bronze in Paris, was in some form as he made no mistake in his run to the gold medal. In the final, he wrestled Amir ABDI (IRI) and performed a reverse lift throw for five points before securing the fall in the second period.

Abdi got the par terre position in the first period but Makhmudov defended the position, giving only a 1-0 lead to the Iranian. When he got the par terre position, he jumped to the front before performing the lift and holding Abdi on the mat for fall.

Ganiev, who defeated European champion Nihad MAMMADLI (AZE) in the quarterfinal, defeated Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) in the semifinal and humbled Ekrem OZTURK (TUR), 8-0, in the final.

RESULTS

60kg
GOLD: Alisher GANIEV (UZB) df. Ekrem OZTURK (TUR), 8-0

BRONZE: Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) df. Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE), 3-2
BRONZE: Sajjad ALBIDHAN (IRQ) df. Fergat ABDELKRIM (ALG), 5-1

67kg
GOLD: Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) df. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), 8-3

BRONZE: Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) df. Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT), 5-2
BRONZE: Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) df. Hassan ABDELREHIM (EGY), via fall (9-0)

77kg
GOLD: Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) df. Amir ABDI (IRI), via fall (6-1)

BRONZE: Abdullo ALIEV (UZB) df. Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE), 2-2
BRONZE: Shahin BADAGHIMOFRAD (QAT) df. Sami SLAMA (TUN), via fall (8-1)

87kg
GOLD: Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) df. Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ), 6-0

BRONZE: Sid BACHIR (ALG) df. Sukhrob ABDULKHAEV (TJK), 9-0
BRONZE: Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) df. Islam ABBASOV (AZE), 5-1