#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

#WrestleNoviSad

Mesenbrink takes steady steps to win U23 Worlds gold

Saturday, October 25, 2025 - 17:22 By Vinay Siwach

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NOVI SAD, Serbia (October 25) -- Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA) remembers his last year's U23 World Championships campaign. He won a bronze medal, left Tirana a little frustrated and missing his training room in Penn State.

With lessons from that tournament and surrounded by his Penn State teammates and coaches, Mesenbrink made sure he did not return home without a medal. The former U20 world champion became U23 world champion after beating Halit OZMUS (TUR), 12-2, in the 74kg final.

Mesenbrink was a leg-attack machine in the final and Ozmus did little to defend those, giving up the final in 2:59, just on the stroke of the break.

"It's just about constantly getting better, technically, and emotionally, too," Mesenbrink said. "If I'm just running in there, trying to grab onto his head, he can get in. So just being able to constantly improve. I think that's a strong testament to the people around me and to the coaches that I have and the teammates that I have at Penn State."

Seven wrestler out of the 10 on the United States Freestyle team are part of the same training center -- the Nittany Lions Wrestling Club, Penn State, which Mesenbrink said made a lot of difference this year.

"It's fun, because last year I came by myself. It was just me at the U23s. So it was fun this year that we had seven out of 10 guys," he said. "Last year, I knew the guys, but it wasn't my teammates, right? Now it's my teammates, the guys that I'm literally in the room with every day. We go over and it's almost like, are we even in Serbia right now? It feels like we're in America, because we got so many guys here."

In Tirana, the American wrestler lost to Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) in the quarterfinals but bounced back to win the bronze medal. But in Novi Sad on Friday, Mesenbrink faced Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) in the semifinals and came out on top 6-4, with a buzzer beating takedown.

The win boasted Mesenbrink's confidence who was close to make the U.S. senior team for World Championships in Zagreb where Takahashi won gold, but lost to David CARR (USA) domestically.

However, that loss made Mesenbrink think about his aims and how he wants to improve his wrestling on the mat.

"I think the big thing of not making the world team, it was just, I got to get better in those specific areas," he said. "That's the most fun part. I thought this is all this is, is a title. This is gonna be fading so quick. So I thought I'm going to go out there and I'm going to work on the things that I've been working on and I've been working really hard since Final X to get those improvements."

Mobin AZIMI (IRI)Mobin AZIMI (IRI) celebrates after winning the 92kg gold medal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

In the only other final of Freestyle, Mobin AZIMI (IRI) earned the first gold medal for Iran after beating Takhir KHANIEV (UWW), 5-3, in the 92kg final. Azimi broken Khaniev down in the final and scored three stepout points to win the gold medal.

RESULTS

74kg
GOLD: Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA) df. Halit OZMUS (TUR), 12-2

BRONZE: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) df. PARVINDER (IND), 8-2
BRONZE: Manuel WAGIN (GER) df. Magomed KHANIEV (AZE), 8-4

92kg
GOLD: Mobin AZIMI (IRI) df. Takhir KHANIEV (UWW), 5-3

BRONZE: Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) df. Ivan CHORNOHUZ (UKR), 11-1
BRONZE: Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN) df. Ion DEMIAN (MDA), 10-0

Semifinals

57kg
GOLD: Yuta KIKUCHI (JPN) vs. Luke LILLEDAHL (USA)

SF 1: Yuta KIKUCHI (JPN) df. Nodirbek JUMANAZAROV (UZB), 6-1
SF 2: Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) df. Aiandai ONDAR (UWW), 7-1

70kg
GOLD: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) vs. Sina KHALILI (IRI)

SF 1: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. PJ DUKE (USA), 14-4
SF 2: Sina KHALILI (IRI) df. Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA), 8-2

79kg
GOLD: Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR) vs. Levi HAINES (USA)

SF 1: Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR) df. Nikita DMITRIJEVS MAYEUSKI (UWW), 5-2
SF 2: Levi HAINES (USA) df. Davud DAUDOV (UWW), 11-4

125kg
GOLD: Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI) vs. Khetag KARSANOV (AZE)

SF 1: Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI) df. Khabib DAVUDGADZHIEV (UWW), 5-0
SF 2: Khetag KARSANOV (AZE) df. Daniel HERRERA (USA), 12-2