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Iran Captures FS & GR Titles in Cadets Asian C’ships, Japan Shines in Women’s Wrestling

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - 19:05 By Ali Feizasa

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NUR-SULTAN, KAZAKHSTAN (July 9) --- The Cadet Asian Championships concluded in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and Iran topped the tournament in freestyle and Greco-Roman, as Japan won team title in women’s wrestling.

In freestyle, Iran came in strong and medaled in all ten weight classes, claiming seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze, and collected 212 of the 250 possible points.

Ali ARAB FIROUZJAEI (45kg), Rahman AMOUZADKHALILI (48kg) and Ali GHOLIZADEGAN KOLOUKHI (51kg) gave Iran three golds in light weight categories but Aman AMAN from India and Kota TAKAHASHI from Japan made a gap in Iranian’s victories as captured gold medal in 55 and 60kg respectively.

Amir MOTAGHI (65kg), Amirhossein FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (80kg), Soheyl YOUSEFI SANGANI (92kg) and Salar HABIBI EHSANI (110kg) were four other Iranian champions, while Vijay VIJAY (IND) achieved the second gold medal for India at 71kg to help his team place second  (157 points) with two golds, one silver, and five bronze medalist.  The host country Kazakhstan had 8 medals (3 silver and 5 bronze) and 145 points to place third in Freestyle after Iran and India.

In Greco-Roman, Iran and Kazakhstan had a close battle for team title but Iran topped the host nation by six points.

Iran only had one more gold medal than Kazakhstan (4 gold, 2 silver, one bronze) as the host team had one more bronze medal (3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze).

Amirreza DEHBOZORGI (48kg), Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (51kg), Hojat REZAEI (65kg) and Saeid KARIMIZADEH (92kg) were four Iranian champions who helped their team gather 181points. \

Samatbek IZIMGALI (45kg), Maksat SAILAU (80kg) and Nurtaz KYDYRBAY (110kg) earned three gold medals for Kazakhstan as the host team finished in second place with 175 points, while Kyrgyzstan came third with 137 points.

The three other Greco-Roman titles went to Firuz MIRZORAJABOV from Tajikistan at 55kg, Amirbek SULTONOV from Uzbekistan at 60kg and Bakdaulet EGEMBERDIEV from Kyrgyzstan at 71kg.

In women’s wrestling, the Japanese girls achieved six medals (4 gold and 2 silver) and won the team title with 176 points. India (159 points) was in close competition as they had six medals but only one of them was gold (one gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze). 

Participating in the tournament with eight wrestlers, China team had good performance by seven medals (one gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze), collecting 138 points and placing third in team standings.

Umi ITO (46kg), Mako OONO (53kg), Ami ISHI (65kg) and Rin TERAMOTO (69kg) were the four Japanese champions as North Korea which had only three wrestlers, won two gold medals by Jin Hyang JANG (43kg) and Ji Hyang KIM (in 49kg).

Four countries shared four remaining individual titles as Mushtariy TOLIPBEKOVA from Uzbekistan at 40kg, Priyanka PRIYANKA from India at 57kg, Maral BATTSOOJ from Mongolia at 61kg and Meng DANG from China at 73kg succeed to defeat all of their rivals.

2019 Cadet’s Asian Championships Medal Winners:

Freestyle

45kg
GOLD- Ali ARAB FIROUZJAEI (IRI)
SILVER- Nodirbek YAKUBOV (UZB)
BRONZE- Suraj ANNIKERI (IND)
BRONZE-  Dastan URMATBEK UULU (KGZ)

48kg
GOLD- Rahman AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI)
SILVER- Nurdaulet BAZARBAYEV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Kamronbek KADAMOV (UZB)
BRONZE- Otgonbaatar BOLDBAATAR (MGL)

51kg
GOLD- Ali GHOLIZADEGAN KOLOUKHI (IRI)
SILVER- Samagan ULAN UULU (KGZ)
BRONZE- Merey BAZARBAYEV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Sunil SUNIL (IND)

55kg
GOLD- Aman AMAN (IND)
SILVER- Arslan RAKHIMOV (UZB)
BRONZE- Shamil KALMATOV (KGZ)
BRONZE- Mahdi VEISI (IRI)

60kg
GOLD- Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN)
SILVER- Erfan ELAHI (IRI)
BRONZE- Deepak DEEPAK (IND)
BRONZE- Akniyet TULEGENOV (KAZ)

65kg
GOLD- Amir Hossein MOTAGHI (IRI)
SILVER- Mustafo AKHMEDOV (TJK)
BRONZE- Olzhas OLZHAKANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Manish GOSWAMI (IND)

71kg
GOLD- Vijay VIJAY (IND)
SILVER- Shokhruh JURAEV (UZB)
BRONZE- Nurdaulet KUANYSHBAY (KAZ)
BRONZE- Nurman UMAROV (KGZ)

80kg
GOLD- Amirhossein FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (IRI)
SILVER- Bekzat AMANGALI (KAZ)
BRONZE- Pureun KIM (KOR)
BRONZE- Abubakr SHUKUROV (TJK)

92kg
GOLD- Soheyl YOUSEFI SANGANI (IRI)
SILVER- Monu DAHIYA (IND)
BRONZE- Er HURILEBATE (CHN)
BRONZE- Bekzat TAZHI (KAZ)

110kg
GOLD- Salar HABIBI EHSANI (IRI)
SILVER- Islam TAGIROV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Kumar ANIRUDH (IND)
BRONZE- Zihao HUANG (CHN)

Freestyle Team Standings:
1- Iran 212 pts
2- India 157 pts
3- Kazakhstan 145 pts
4- Uzbekistan 127 pts
5- Kyrgyzstan 95 pts
6- Japan 91 pts
7- Korea 65 pts
8- Mongolia 63 pts
9- Tajikistan 55 pts
10- China 54 pts
11- Turkmenistan 30 pts
12- Saudi Arabia 20 pts
13- Taipei Chinese 12 pts
14- Jordan 10 pts
15- Singapore 0 point
15- Syria 0 point

Greco-Roman

45kg
GOLD- Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ)
SILVER- Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ)
BRONZE- Kansei KAMIYOSHI (JPN)
BRONZE- Harsh HARSH (IND)

48kg
GOLD- Amirreza DEHBOZORGI (IRI)
SILVER- Yerassyl DAULETBEK (KAZ)
BRONZE- Kuvonchbek TOSHNAZAROV (UZB)
BRONZE- Ulukbek SANSYZBAEV (KGZ)

51kg
GOLD- Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI)
SILVER- Arshad ARSHAD (IND)
BRONZE- Kohei YAMAGIWA (JPN)
BRONZE- Iskhar KURBAYEV (KAZ)

55kg
GOLD- Firuz MIRZORAJABOV (TJK)
SILVER- Abror ATABAEV (UZB)
BRONZE- Yerassyl KENGANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Parvin PATIL (IND)

60kg
GOLD- Amirbek SULTONOV (UZB)
SILVER- Seyed Danial SOHRABI (IRI)
BRONZE- Ravi RAVI (IND)
BRONZE- Didar ORAZBERDIYEV (TKM)

65kg
GOLD- Hojat REZAEI (IRI)
SILVER- Din MUKHAMED KOSHKAR (KAZ)
BRONZE- Jianwei OU (CHN)
BRONZE- Neeraj NEERAJ (IND)

71kg
GOLD- Bakdaulet EGEMBERDIEV (KGZ)
SILVER- Reza SAKI (IRI)
BRONZE- Sheroz OCHILOV (TJK)
BRONZE- Samandar BOBONAZAROV (UZB)

80kg
GOLD- Maksat SAILAU (KAZ)
SILVER- Bekzat ORUNKUL UULU (KGZ)
BRONZE- Yifan CHEN (CHN)
BRONZE- Eito NISHIDA (JPN)

92kg
GOLD- Saeid KARIMIZADEH (IRI)
SILVER- Nitesh NITESH (IND)
BRONZE- Ao SUN (CHN)
BRONZE- Djakhongir KHOSHIMOV (UZB)

110kg
GOLD- Nurtaz KYDYRBAY (KAZ)
SILVER- Sonu SONU (IND)
BRONZE- Shahrokh MIKAEILI (IRI)
BRONZE-Davran SADYKOV (KGZ)

Greco-Roman Team Standings:
1- Iran 181 pts
2- Kazakhstan 175 pts
3- Kyrgyzstan 137 pts
4- India 134 pts
5- Uzbekistan 132 pts
6- Japan 85 pts
7- China 81 pts
8- Tajikistan 76 pts
9- Korea 58 pts
10- Turkmenistan 39 pts
11- Saudi Arabia 18 pts
12- Taipei Chinese 12 pts
13- Syria 6 pts
14- Jordan 0 point

Women’s Wrestling

40kg
GOLD- Mushtariy TOLIPBEKOVA (UZB)
SILVER- Komal KOMAL (IND)
BRONZE- Jin A KIM (PRK)

43kg
GOLD- Jin Hyang JANG (PRK)
SILVER- Karin UEMATSU (JPN)
BRONZE- Nazik MIRLAN KYZY (KGZ)

46kg
GOLD- Umi ITO (JPN)
SILVER- Xuejing LIANG (CHN)
BRONZE- Bermet NURIDIN KYZY (KGZ)

49kg
GOLD- Ji Hyang KIM (PRK)
SILVER- Yu SAKAMOTO (JPN)
BRONZE- Zeinep BAYANOVA (KAZ)
BRONZE- Xiaomin XIE (CHN) 

53kg
GOLD- Mako OONO (JPN)
SILVER- Altyn SHAGAYEVA (KAZ)
BRONZE- Ying LU (CHN)

57kg
GOLD- Priyanka PRIYANKA (IND)
SILVER- Yifan TANG (CHN)
BRONZE- Altjin TOGTOKH (MGL)
BRONZE- Burulsun BEKBOLOTOVA (KGZ)

61kg
GOLD- Maral BATTSOOJ (MGL)
SILVER- Laylokhon SOBIROVA (UZB)
BRONZE- DDilnaz SAZANOVA (KGZ)
BRONZE-Bhagyashree FAND (IND)

65kg
GOLD- Ami ISHI (JPN)
SILVER- Sonam SONAM (IND)
BRONZE- Cun LIU (CHN)
BRONZE- Rushana ABDIRASULOVA (UZB)

69kg
GOLD- Rin TERAMOTO (JPN)
SILVER- Yifeng LU (CHN)
BRONZE- Nurzat NURTAEVA (KGZ)
BRONZE- Reetika REETIKA (IND)

73kg
GOLD - Meng DANG (CHN)
SILVER - Pooja POOJA (IND)
BRONZE - Ayazhan SADU (KAZ)
BRONZE - Delgertsetseg BAASANKHUU (MGL)

Women’s Wrestling Team Standings:
1- Japan 176 pts
2- India 159 pts
3-China 138 pts
4- Mongolia 123 pts
5- Uzbekistan 114 pts
6- Kazakhstan 111 pts
7- Kyrgyzstan 110 pts
8- DPR Korea 65 pts
9- Taipei Chinese 58 pts

#UWWAwards

UWW Most Dominant Wrestlers 2025: Amouzad, Motoki, Esmaeili

Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 11:08 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 24) -- There were several dominant performances in 2025 on the wrestling mat. But it was three wrestlers who remained at the top of their weight classes and racked up dominant wins one after another. Two were Olympic champions while one was an Olympic silver medalist. All three became world champions in Zagreb.

Freestyle Most Dominant Wrester: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)

- 14–0
- Rank 1 at 65kg 
- 58,000 RS points 
- Outscored world and Olympic medalists 42–4
- World Championships, Tirana RS and ISG golds

Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) was about as perfect as you could be in a season, returning to prominence with title-winning efforts at the World Championships, Islamic Solidarity Games and Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event and finishing the season as the No.1 ranked wrestler in the world at 65kg with 58,000 Ranking Series points.

The Paris silver medalist, collected an unblemished 14-0 record in 2025 -- with five of those wins coming against top-level opponents who have world or Olympic medals on their resumes in Olympic champion Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), Umidjon JALALOV (UZB), Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and Real WOODS (USA). The craziest part about those five matches against the world’s best, Amouzad outscored 42-4.

But without a doubt, the highlight of Amouzad’s season came in Zagreb when he finally got his long awaited rematch, beating Kotaro KIYOOKA in a revenge match from the Paris 2024 Olympic finals.

The scariest part about Amouzad’s dominance -- he’s only 23 years old and he’s still getting better.

Women's Wrestling Dominant Wrestler: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)

- 9-0
- Five pins, two technical superiorities
- 45,000 RS points 
- 8/9 bouts finished before regulation
- Completed Golden Grand Slam (U17, U20, U23, Senior World and Olympic gold)

Coming into the 2025 season, Motoki made her goals crystal clear -- become the third wrestler in history of the sport to win wrestling’s Golden Grand Slam -- and for those who don’t know, that is gold medals at the U17, U20, U23, Senior World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The only two missing from the Olympic champ's resume were the U23 and Senior World golds.

At the 2025 U23 and senior World Championships, Motoki showed that she’s in a league of her own, as she went 9-0, with eight  matches finishing before time expired. She scored five falls and two technical superiority wins.

Her win in the final of the World Championships will be one that will be talked about for ages as the most dramatic win of the season. Motoki scored a buzzer-beating takedown against Ok Ju KIM (PRK) with a 10-second flurry that consisted of a head outside single, arm throw, over-under knee pick, before head locking Kim with four tenths of a second left to keep her history making hopes alive.

In the end, Motoki’s heart and courage under fire helped her close out the year as the third wrestler to complete the Golden Grand Slam and she did it with a level of dominance we may not see again for a very long time.

Greco-Roman Dominant Wrestler: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)

- Rank 1 at 67kg 
- 58,000 RS points  
- 11–0 Record
- World Championships, Asian Championships and  ISG golds

In a 2025 campaign that saw him become a world champion, Esmaeili's season was immaculate, as he cemented his place among the sport’s top pound-for-pound wrestler with a season full of titles, stacking gold-medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships and Islamic Solidarity Games, rounding out the season ranked No. 1 in the world at 67kg.

The Paris Olympic champion remained unbeaten in 2025, winning all 11 bouts of his bouts in dominant fashion -- scoring eight shutout wins, with seven technical falls -- including a pair of 9-0 win against world champions Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) and Sebastian NAD (SRB). The reigning Olympic gold medalist also collected two victories over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), one in the world final and one in the Islamic Game gold-medal match, where he tossed his Azeri opponent for four as time expired to rob his rival of the title.

His opponents should not ease up because at just 22 years old, Esmaeili is still sharpening his tool set and leveling up his skills.