ALMATY, Kazakhstan (April 13) --- Uzbek greats Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) and Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) saw their bids to add to extensive continental gold medal collections quashed at the hands of Iranians, as the Asian Championships opened Tuesday with the first half of the Greco-Roman competition in Almaty.

Meysam DALKHANI (IRI), avenging a loss to Tasmuradov at last year's championships in New Delhi, held on for a 9-7 victory over the defending champion in the quarterfinals at 63kg.

"I had wrestled him before at the Delhi Asian Championships, but he defeated me," Dalkhani said. "I was thinking about how to avenge that loss. Obviously training harder and being smarter on the mat was important."

Dalkhani followed up that victory with an 8-5 win over Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) to become the first of four Iranians who advanced to the finals, to be held in the night session at the Baluan Sholak Palace of Culture and Sports.

Dalkhani, who is already assured of improving on his third-place finish from last year, will look to make it to the top of podium when he faces Matteo Pellicone silver medalist Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ).

In their semifinal, Tasmuradov, a Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist who was seeking a sixth Asian gold medal, caught Dalkhani with a 4-point headlock. But Dalkhani worked out of it for a reversal and came back with a big 4-point throw of his own, before taking a 9-6 lead into the second period.

The 29-year-old Tasmuradov, who secured a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics at 60kg when he finished fifth at the 2019 World Championships in Nursultan, had a chance from the par terre position, but couldn't turn the determined Iranian. After desperate attempts to score at the end, Tasmuradov collapsed to the mat.

"I did not train in the lockdown, so I am coming to mat straight after the break," said Tasmuradov, who added he is nursing a knee injury. "I began training again 10 days ago."

Tasmuradov abandoned a chance to pick up at least a bronze when he defaulted his repechage match. Last year, he relegated Dalkhani to the bronze-medal match with a technical fall victory in the semifinals.

"Iran has good wrestlers and Dalkhani is very good," Tasmuradov said. "But he was very dirty in the bout and he trash-talked a lot during the bout. I did not even touch his fingers and he acting if I broke them. Good actors."

In the other semifinal, Assetuly saw Muhamad FWAZ (SYR) roll out of two headlocks before finally clamping down on a third and securing a fall at 2:23 with a 12-4 lead.

At 87kg, Assakalov, who will be heading to a second Olympics by virtue of his bronze medal at the Nursultan worlds, knocked off defending Asian champion Kumar SUNIL (IND) 3-1 in his opening match, but had no answer for Naser ALIZADEH (IRI) in the semifinals.

Alizadeh led 3-1 after the first period, then added a number of stepouts and a gut wrench from the par terre position en route to a 10-4 victory.

"I am happy that he could perform so well and reach the final," said Alizadeh's coach, Adel Baei TABAR. "In his own way, he has proved that he a good wrestler for Iran and hopefully he will be the champion."

Alizadeh set up the clash with three-time Asian champion Assakalov by defeating Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ) 3-1 in the quarterfinals. Four days  earlier, Tursynov earned a place for Kazakhstan at the Tokyo Olympics at the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament, held April 9-11 at the same venue.

It marked the second straight year that Assakalov was ousted by an Iranian. Last year in New Delhi, he fell to Behrouz HEDAYAT (IRI) and left the Indian capital empty-handed.

"I had no plans for Iran or anyone else," Assakalov said. "I only planned to win the gold medal at the Asian Championships and represent my country at the Olympics with the dignity of Asian champion. But God had other ideas."

Still, he said he was content with the result. "I will fight for the bronze medal in the evening and we will see. I am happy with everything."

Standing in Alizadeh's path to the gold is Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ), who will be looking for his first Asian title after twice coming away with silver medals. He defeated Seunghwan LEE (KOR) 6-3 in the other semifinal.

Pejman POSHTAM (IRI) will get a chance to improve on his 2020 silver medal at 77kg after a 4-point arm throw early in the match proved to be the difference when criteria decided a tight 7-7 semifinal win over Singh GURPREET (IND).

Gurpreet, who had also wrestled in the Olympic qualifier but came up one victory short of a ticket to Tokyo, advanced to the semifinals with a nail-biting 11-8 win over Bilan NALGIEV (UZB)  in which he rallied from a 6-1 deficit.

"The qualifier and championships were too close and I could not recover," Gurpreet said. "My body is tired and my muscles have become weak after frequent weight cutting."

Poshtam noticed the fatigue in the Indian, who was unable to convert in the par terre position in the second period.

"He was tired from his last bout," Poshtam said. "I had to plan a lot for Gurpreet because he is good in all positions. The par terre position is where the match changes and it was good."

In the final, Poshtam will face Daler REZA ZADE (TJK), who topped Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ) 6-1 in the other semifinal. He will try to become the first-ever Asian gold medalist in Greco from Tajikistan, and the second overall after Yusup ABDUSALAMOV (TJK) won at freestyle 74kg in 2003.

As for Iran's opening-day performance, Poshtam commented: "Iran has done well to make four finals. We have been training for the last five months for the Asian Championships. And I think we were prepared to win at this  championships."

The fourth Iranian finalist Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI), who wore down Sukhrob FATTOEV (UZB) and won by disqualification on cautions with 1:29 left and a 14-5 lead. He will face Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ), a fifth-place finisher in 2019 who advanced by fall over 2020 bronze medalist Minseok KIM (KOR).

At 55kg, Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB) ended Iran's chance for a sweep of the opening-day golds -- and earned a chance to regain the title he won in 2019 --when he knocked off Poya DAD MARZ (IRI) 3-1 in the semifinals.

In the final, he will face Yu SHIOTANI (JPN), who stormed to a 9-0 technical fall in 4:15 over Sandeep SANDEEP (IND).

Shiotani was the runner-up at the All-Japan Championships last December to Takushoku University teammate Hiromu KATAGIRI (JPN), who lost to Bakhromov in the 2019 Asian final. Katagiri has ostensibly retired after joining a general Japanese company that does not have an affiliated wrestling team.

Day 1 results

Greco-Roman

Semifinals

55kg (10 entries)
Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) df. Sandeep SANDEEP (IND) by TF, 9-0, 4:15
Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB) df. Poya DAD MARZ (IRI), 3-1

63kg (12 entries)
Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ) df. Muhamad FWAZ (SYR) by Fall, 2:23 (12-4)
Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) df. Hanjae CHUNG (KOR), 8-5

77kg (12 entries)
Daler REZA ZADE (TJK) df. Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ), 6-1
Pejman POSHTAM (IRI) df. Singh GURPREET (IND) 7-7

87kg (10 entries)
Naser ALIZADEH (IRI) df. Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB), 10-4
Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) df. Seunghwan LEE (KOR), 6-3

130kg (8 entries)
Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ) df. Minseok KIM (KOR) by Fall, 1:04 (8-3)
Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) df. Sukhrob FATTOEV (UZB) by Disq., 4:31 (14-5).