Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers win three bronzes at U20 Worlds

Tehran - BORNA - In the 63kg category, Ali Gharibi began his campaign with a dominant 9-0 victory over Dominika of Moldova. He then defeated Egypt’s Ahmed Youssef 12-3 in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals.

Gharibi beat Marganyan of Armenia 12-4 in the quarterfinals to book his place in the semifinals, where he suffered a 4-1 defeat against Russia’s Selim Kazmekhov.

The Iranian wrestler then faced Tichkavadze in the bronze-medal bout and secured a 1-1 criteria victory to take bronze at the U20 Greco-Roman World Championships.

In the 77kg category, Amirmehdi Saeedinava opened with a 10-0 victory over Sweden’s Gesterikvod before defeating Russia’s Berkovski 9-4 in the second round.

Saeedinava continued his strong run with an 8-0 win over Baran of Ukraine in the quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals. He was then defeated 7-1 by Javidan Nematov and moved into the bronze-medal match.

In the third-place bout, Saeedinava defeated Anapiya of Kazakhstan 5-0 to secure Iran’s second bronze medal.

Amirhossein Nematzadeh, meanwhile, received a bye in the opening round before defeating Tagayev of Kazakhstan 8-0 in the second round to reach the quarterfinals.

Nematzadeh lost 5-1 to Petrosyan of Armenia in the quarterfinals, but advanced to the repechage after his Armenian opponent reached the final.

The Iranian wrestler then defeated Younesov of Kyrgyzstan 7-0 to earn a place in the bronze-medal bout.

Nematzadeh was scheduled to face Mayer of Austria for bronze, but the Austrian withdrew due to injury, handing the Iranian wrestler the bronze medal.

Iran therefore finished the first four weight categories of the U20 Greco-Roman World Championships with three bronze medals.

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