Winning four gold, one silver and two bronze medals, Iran Greco-Roman team captured title at 2017 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi.

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