Iran Pins Hopes on Second Five Weights as It Competes with Favorites for U-23 World Title

Iran's freestyle wrestling team concluded the first five weight categories of the U-23 World Championships with one finalist and two wrestlers in classification bouts, remaining in the title race against leading contenders. However, the elimination of two Iranian wrestlers has made the goal more difficult to achieve.

At the end of the first 5-weight competitions of the under-23 world championships, Iran's national wrestling team, with one finalist and two representatives in the ranking matches, is still competing with the main contenders for the championship title; However, the elimination of 2 Iranian wrestlers from the competition has made the conditions to achieve this goal more difficult.

According to Ambassador Arjan, at the end of the first day of the World Hope Competition, the countries of Armenia and Kazakhstan were at the top of the list of contenders with two finalists. Despite having a finalist, a representative in the rankings and 3 wrestlers in the rematch table, Russia has good conditions to collect points. The important thing about the Russians is that none of their representatives have withdrawn from the competition; An issue that can benefit them in the team competition.

Azerbaijan also had one finalist on the first day, but the status of other wrestlers in the team at different weights, including the elimination of some representatives, could affect their final score. In such a situation, Iran needs a better performance in the second 5 weight to stay in the championship course, and cannot just rely on the result of the 82 kg final and the ranking matches.

Close competition of contenders in the first 5 weights

In the 60 kg category, Aitbek Aitbekov from Kazakhstan and Elmir Aliyev from Azerbaijan reached the finals. The defeat of the Russian representative against the Kazakh wrestler gave him the opportunity to appear in the table of chances again. Türkiye does not have a representative in this weight in the final stages and Armenia did not wrestle in this weight either.

In 67 kg, Erzu Zakariyev from Russia and Azat Sariyar from Türkiye became finalists. Shakurzadeh from Azerbaijan and Amirkhanov from Kazakhstan, who lost to the finalists, will face each other again in the odds table. In order to reach the ranking meeting, the representative of Armenia must pass the barrier of his Kyrgyz opponent; In this case, Mohammad Kamali from Iran will be his competitor to win the bronze medal.

The weight of 72 kg brought the second finalist for Kazakhstan. Yusuf Asherpov fights for the gold with Gasper Tertarian of Armenia. The representatives of Russia and Azerbaijan also got the chance to appear in the losers' table due to their defeat against the finalists. In this weight, the result of rematches and ranking can affect the points of the contending teams.

Iran's only finalist in the first 5 weights

In the weight of 82 kg, Abolfazl Mehmadi became the only finalist of Iran in the first 5 weights by advancing to the final, and he has to face Martik Petrosian from Armenia to win the gold medal. In this weight, Russia has a representative in the ranking meeting, but wrestlers from Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan withdrew from the competition. Mehmadi's final can bring a valuable point for Iran, although to compensate for the lost points, the performance of other national players is also very important.

In 97 kg weight, Yehor Yakushenko from Ukraine and Abubaker Khaslakhanau from Belarus became finalists. Iran's Mohammad Hadi Saidi reached the ranking meeting and Russia's Mukhtarov was also placed in the chance table again. Türkiye's representative still has a chance to reach the ranking, and Kazakhstan will also have another chance to be represented in the table. On the other hand, wrestlers from Azerbaijan and Armenia were eliminated from the competition.

the second five weights; Iran's opportunity to compensate

According to the results of the first day, the competition for the championship title is still open, but the conditions are in favor of the teams that, in addition to the finalists, have kept more representatives in the competition table. Russia has a good situation in this regard, and Kazakhstan and Armenia also have important points with 2 finalists.

In order to keep up with these teams, Iran needs several representatives to advance to the finals and win medals in the remaining weights. For this reason, the second 5-weight competition that will be held tonight is not only an opportunity to increase the number of Iranian medals; Rather, it can change the equations of the team table and keep alive the chance of our country's national players to be among the main contenders for the championship.