Tehran - BORNA - Iran's Greco-Roman wrestling team has positioned itself for a potential haul of one gold and two bronze medals on the second day of the U23 World Championships in Belgrade, despite a key loss in the 82kg category.
Iman Mohammadi (72kg) will wrestle for gold tonight, while Armin Shamsipour (55kg) and Ahmadreza Mohsennejad (67kg) will compete in bronze medal matches.
Abolfazl Mohmadi suffered a close defeat in his opening bout at 82kg, falling 4-3 to Ruslan Abdiiev of Ukraine. Mohmadi's medal hopes now depend on Abdiiev advancing to the final, which would allow the Iranian to enter the repechage.
In the 60kg category, Sajjad Abbaspour secured an initial victory, defeating Mert Ilbars of Turkey with a clean 6-0 score. He is set to face Iliia Panaioti of Russia in the next round.
Ahmadreza Mohsennejad (67kg) successfully navigated the repechage bracket. After losing his quarterfinal bout yesterday, he rebounded with a 5-1 win over Yonat Veliz Martinez of Cuba to secure a spot in the bronze medal match. Mohsennejad will wrestle Hleb Makaranka of Belarus for the medal tonight.
In summary of the four weight classes from the second group of competitions, tonight will feature Iman Mohammadi (72kg) competing for gold, and Armin Shamsipour (55kg) and Ahmadreza Mohsennejad (67kg) competing for bronze.
Iran had already claimed two medals in the first four weight categories, with Gholamreza Farrokhi (87kg) and Fardin Hedayati (130kg) reaching the podium.
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