Winning four gold, one silver and two bronze medals, Iran
Greco-Roman team captured title at 2017 Asian Wrestling Championships in New
Delhi.
Iran, behind golds in the four heaviest weight classes,
topped the Greco-Roman team standings with 69 points. Korea and Kazakhstan
finished with 59 points, but Korea was awarded second place based on the
tiebreaking criteria.
Ramin TAHERI completed his hat-trick of gold medals at the
Asian Senior Championships, and led Iran to a three-title Greco-Roman haul on
the opening day of the tournament Wednesday.
Taherisartang battled to a tough 3-1 decision in the 80kg
final over KIM Junehyoung (KOR), one of four Koreans to make the final in the five
Greco-Roman divisions contested at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex wrestling
stadium.
"It’s a hat-trick, and it’s different from the first
and second medals," Taheri said. "I’m so happy. I want to take this
color medal at the world championships."
Taheri, the Paris Grand Prix champion, captured his first
Asian title at 71kg in 2015, then moved up to 80kg last year in Bangkok and
made it two in a row.
Iranians also conquered the two heaviest weights, with
Seyedmostafa SALEHIZADEH taking the 98kg gold and Behnam MEHDIZADEH following
with a victory at 130kg.
Salehizadeh dominated his clash with KIM Seungjun (KOR),
winning by technical fall at 3:35 by building up a 14-4 advantage -- although
he had to survive a scare when the Korean pancaked him onto his back for a
4-point move.
In contrast, the final between Mehdizadeh and Damir
KUZEMBAYEV (KAZ) offered little but two monoliths pounding against each other,
and Mehdizadeh prevailed 3-1 as none of the points were scored through
techniques.
At 85kg, Hossein NOURI (IRI) foiled Matsumoto’s bid for
Greco glory by scoring a second-period takedown to secure a 4-2 victory that
showed the difference in experience in the style.
Matsumoto was the Asian 2015 silver medalist and a
three-time national champion in freestyle, but changed to Greco after failing
to make Japan’s team to Rio 2016.
On Thursday, he had difficulty penetrating Nouri’s defenses,
and scored both of his points by opponent passivity. Nouri twice powered the
Japanese out of the circle in the first period.
Iran, behind golds in the four heaviest weight classes,
topped the Greco-Roman team standings with 69 points. Korea and Kazakhstan
finished with 59 points, but Korea was awarded second place based on the
tiebreaking criteria.
Greco-Roman Results
59kg (12 entries)
Gold - Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) df. Mirambek AINAGULOV (KAZ),
2-1
Bronze – Saman
ABDOUVALI (IRI) df. Kaly SULAIMANOV (KGZ) 5-2
Bronze – RI Sin Myong (PRK) df. Li JIANG (CHN) 5-2
66kg (11 entries)
Gold - OH Sanghun (KOR) df. Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) 1-1
Bronze – Ali ARSALAN (IRI) df. Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB)
fall, 4:16
Bronze – DONG Jinxin (CHN) df. Shogo Takahashi (JPN) 2-1
71kg (10 entries)
Gold - Takeshi IZUMI (JPN) df. Afshin BYABANGARD (IRI), 2-1
Bronze – KIM Jihun
(KOR) df. Peerapol SIRITHONG (THA), TF, 1:35, 8-0
Bronze – Nurgazy ASANGULOV (KGZ) df. Deepak DEEPAK (IND),
8-1
75kg (12 entries)
Gold - Maxat YEREZHEPOV (KAZ) df. PARK Daeseung (KOR)
5-0
Bronze – YANG Bin (CHN) df. Gurpreet SINGH (IND) TF, 8-0,
:38
Bronze – Bakhtovar KHASANOV (TJK) df. CHEN Yu-Ching (TPE)
TF, 8-0, :50
80kg (9 entries)
Gold - Ramin
TAHERISARTANG (IRI) df. KIM Junehyoung (KOR) 3-1
Bronze – Harpreet
SINGH (IND) df. NA Junjie (CHN) 2-1
Bronze – Samat SHIRDAKOV (KGZ) df. Danyal GAJIYEV (KAZ) 2-2
85kg (10 entries)
Gold - Hossein NOURI (IRI)
df. Atsushi MATSUMOTO (JPN), 4-2
Bronze – Kumar ANIL
(IND) df. Muhammadali SHAMSIDDINOV (UZB), 7-6
Bronze – PENG Fei (CHN) df. Azamat KUSTUBAYEV (KAZ), 2-1
98kg (9 entries)
Gold - Seyedmostafa SALEHIZADEH (IRI) df. KIM Seungjun (KOR)
TF, 14-4, 3:35
Bronze – Yerulan ISKAKOV (KAZ) df. XIAO Di (CHN) 5-1
Bronze – Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) df. Azizdzhon ZARIPOV (TJK)
fall, :51
130 kg (7 entries)
Gold - Behnam MEHDIZADEH (IRI) df. Damir KUZEMBAYEV (KAZ)
3-1
Bronze – KIM Minseok (KOR) df. Arata SONODA (JPN) fall, 2:51