#WrestleUfa

#WrestleUfa Begins with 23 Age-Group World Medalists in Action

Sunday, August 15, 2021 - 17:48 By Vinay Siwach

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UFA, Russia (August 15) -- When the first whistles blow Monday at the Ufa Arena, it will mark the beginning a junior World Championships after gap of 729 days owing to the pandemic. But more than 500 wrestlers are ready to lay their claim for 120 medals that will be on offer during the August 16-22 tournament.

Situated in western Russia and almost 1500 kilometers from Moscow, Ufa will see freestyle wrestling kickoff things on day one of the Junior World Championships. Women's wrestling and Greco-Roman will be the next two styles of wrestling.

A host of former age-group world medalists will be in action at the Ufa Arena which will see spectators for the first time since the 2020 Asian Championships in Delhi. Spectators who wish to enter the arena need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or or need to provide a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result.

Russia will look to win the the team title at home under the guidance of head coach, former world champion Abdulsalam GADISOV. But a number former world medalists will in their way.

In freestyle, Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) will be one of the biggest names to look forward to. The two-time age-group world champion is returning from the Tokyo Olympics just a week ago and will wrestle at the 74kg weight class. He will be looking to add to his four medals from age-group Worlds.

But he will face challenge from Taner GARIP (TUR). The two can set up a rematch of the 2021 European Championships final which Bayramov won in Dortmund.

One of the toughest weight class in the freestyle will be 79kg as three former world medalists including a world champion from 2018 in Bagrati GAGNIDZE (GEO) are entered. He won a junior World Championships silver as well and an exciting match-up can be seen if Gourav BALIYAN (IND) wrestles him. The two wrestled each other in the 2018 cadet Worlds final and Gagnidze scored a final second takedown to defeat the Indian.

Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (IRI) will also be a big threat to the title as he is coming after winning the U23 World Championships silver medal in 2019.

Another category which will see three world medalists is 125kg. Giorgi CHIKHRADZE (GEO), Lyova GEVORGYAN (ARM) and Anirudh KUMAR (IND) are medalist from the 2019 Cadet World Championships. Chikhradze was the silver medalist while the other two won bronze. From the same tournament, Bekzat TAZHI (KAZ) won a bronze at 92kg and making his move up to 125kg.

Wrestlers at 61kg will in a stacked field with two-time world champion Rahman Mousa AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI) eyeing his third title at the age-group level. But he will be challenged by another world champion Fedor BALTUEV (RUS) who won the title in 2017. Abulfaz NASIROV (AZE) and RAVINDER (IND) will also be in the same field. The two are bronze medalists from the Cadet World Championships.

Another former world champion entered is Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) and he will be wrestling at 70kg. He won the cadet world title at 65kg in 2019. Recently, he did a double by winning the 2021 European Junior and U23 Championships. Erfan Mohammad ELAHI (IRI) will try to win his first world title after falling short and collecting a silver at 60kg back in 2019. Another cadet world medalist, JAIDEEP (IND) will try to improve. He won a bronze medalist at the 2021 Worlds in Budapest last month.

Amirhossein Biglar FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (IRI) will try to capture his second world title as he is entered at 86kg. He won a gold medal at 80kg at the 2019 World Championships at the cadet level.

57kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg and 97kg wrestlers will be in action Monday and freestyle action will continue Tuesday with the remaining five weight classes.

'I was destroyed, couldn't sleep': Ghasempour recalls painful loss to Sadulaev

Monday, March 10, 2025 - 10:53 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (March 10) -- "I've thought about it a lot. Of course, it's in the past and thinking about it won't change anything. But I've thought a lot about why I made a mistake in those four seconds and I could have managed the wrestling differently and finished it very easily."

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) stares at the empty walls of the interview room as he recalls the heartbreaking and shocking 5-3 loss to Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) in the semifinal of the World Championships last October.

The images of Ghasempour holding his head in hands after the loss went viral on social media. Sadulaev was praised for his champion mindset and his ability to script a remarkable late turnaround. Ghasempour was consoled by his fans, who urged him to not lose heart.

Those comforting words felt hollow at that point and Ghasempour felt 'lost'.

"The reality is that the fighting spirit and the feeling I had on the first day of the competition caused all those feelings to disappear and I was destroyed. I couldn't control myself and I just wanted the competition to end and go back," Ghasmepour says, with his voice breaking as he recollects his thoughts.

For 5 minutes and 55 seconds, Ghasempour controlled the 92kg semifinal against Sadulaev, a two-time Olympic champion known for his must-win attitude. A loss would have reinforced the belief that the Sauldaev aura was fading. A win for Ghasempour, a two-time world champion at 92kg, would make him only the third wrestler to beat Sadulaev.

But with five seconds remaining, Sadulaev snapped the Iranian down, spun behind, then managed to fling him to the mat for a 4-point takedown.

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW), behind, hits the match-winning takedown on Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

"It was also very difficult for me to come to terms with the loss," Ghasempour recalls. "After the match, I felt very bad and didn't sleep all night. I was awake from the intensity of thought and pressure, and it was very difficult for me. Due to the pressure I was under, I took four painkillers after the match."

A few hours of sleep was never going to be enough for Ghasempour to return for his bronze-medal bout against David TAYLOR (USA), which he lost 6-2.

Four months have passed since that day in Tirana, a city Ghasempour returned for the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series last week and captured the gold medal. Though not the World Championships and there was no Sadulaev in the field, Ghasempour managed to bring a smile on his face as he stood on the podium.

However, memories flashed back.

"When I was going up to the podium [after winning gold], I thought again that I could have been standing on the Worlds podium a few months ago, not this tournament," he said. "But that's how sports is, and if a professional athlete wants to continue their path, they must know that winning and losing are part of sports."

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) won the 92kg gold medal at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in February. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Ghasempour did take comfort from the messages he received. Yet, he is unable to move on from those five seconds of lapse in concentration.

"People gave me a lot of good energy and praised me constantly, which shows the kindness of the people," he says. "But what I wanted didn't happen and the result wasn't as I wanted. It would have been better if it ended with a good result."

As the new Olympic cycle begins, Ghasempour wants to make amends. There will be many pit stops before he can be at his first Olympics and he wants to capture every gold medal that comes his way.

"There are three more World Championships left before the Olympics [in 2028]," he says. "The World Championships are very important to me, and after that, it's the Olympic medal that I want to have in my medal showcase. In the year leading up to the Olympics, I will make the decision and compete in a weight class so that I can participate in the Olympics."