Iran crowned U23 freestyle wrestling world champion ahead of Russia, US
Tehran - BORNA - The 2026 U23 World Freestyle Wrestling Championships were held from October 16 to 19 in Las Vegas, where Iran captured the team title in a commanding fashion. In the final top 10 team standings, Iran ranked first with 180 points, followed by Russia in second with 171 points, and the US in third with 104 points. Turkey (99 points), Japan (75 points), Georgia (68 points), India (57 points), Kazakhstan (55 points), Armenia (49 points), and Azerbaijan (42 points) stood in fourth to tenth places, respectively.
For the Iranian national team, Ahoura Khateri (65 kg), Mehdi Yousefi (79 kg), Abolfazl Rahmani (92 kg), and Abolfazl Mohammadnejad (125 kg) won gold medals. Ebrahim Elahi (70 kg) secured a silver medal, while Ebrahim Khari (61 kg), Ali Karampour (74 kg), Reza Afshar (86 kg), and Mohammad Mobin Azimi (97 kg) took home bronze medals.
A summary of the Iranian wrestlers' individual performances in the tournament is as follows:
57 kg: Ali Yahyapour had a bye in the first round. He then lost 10-8 to Harutyunyan of Armenia. With the Armenian wrestler failing to reach the final, Yahyapour was eliminated from the tournament.
61 kg: Ebrahim Khari had a bye in the first round. He then lost 7-1 to Benjamin Alan Davino of the US. After Davino reached the final, Khari entered the repechage bracket, where he defeated Mukaida of Japan 15-4. In the bronze medal match, he secured a 12-0 technical fall victory over Vizenhant of Romania to win bronze.
65 kg: Ahoura Khateri had a bye in the first round. He then defeated Alaidar of Kazakhstan 15-14 to reach the quarterfinals, where he overcame Rustambekov of Uzbekistan 10-2. In the semifinals, Khateri secured a 9-8 victory against Eldar Akhmadudinov of Russia. He defeated Kaiji Ogino of Japan 7-6 in the final to claim the gold medal.
70 kg: Ebrahim Elahi had a bye in the first round, followed by a 6-1 victory against Toprak of Turkey in the quarterfinals. He defeated Aliyev of Kazakhstan 9-6 to reach the semifinals, where he blanked Ogino of Japan 4-0. In the final, Elahi lost 5-3 to Magomed-Emi Elteimirov of Russia, taking the silver medal.
74 kg: Ali Karampour defeated Bektemirov of Austria 13-2 in the first round, and followed up with a 10-0 victory against Batuchinggele of China. He overcame Nurdaulet Seilbekov of Kazakhstan 10-0 in the quarterfinals but lost 10-2 by fall to Jaden James of the US in the semifinals. Karampour defeated Ion Marcu of Moldova 10-0 in the bronze medal match.
79 kg: Mehdi Yousefi defeated Yaprak of Turkey 6-4 in the first round. He then overpowered Declan Blay of Ireland 10-0 and defeated Papikyan of Armenia 12-1 in the quarterfinals. Yousefi edged Chandramohan of India 4-3 in the semifinals and secured a 3-1 victory against Said Saidulov of Russia in the final to win gold.
86 kg: Reza Afshar lost 7-1 to Ahmet Yagan of Turkey in the first round. With Yagan reaching the final, Afshar entered the repechage, where he defeated De Leon True of Mexico 10-0 and Yepremyan of Armenia 5-2. In the bronze medal match, he blanked Mihalcean of Moldova 6-0.
92 kg: Abolfazl Rahmani had a bye in the first round. He defeated Burrell Jr. of Jamaica 11-1 and Kurashvili of Georgia 11-6 to reach the semifinals, where he secured a 6-3 victory against Altunbas of Turkey. Rahmani defeated Arslan Bagaev of Russia 5-2 in the final to clinch the gold medal.
97 kg: Mohammad Mobin Azimi defeated Aliyev of Azerbaijan 8-0 in the first round. He then overcame Puyunov of Uzbekistan 9-5 and defeated Gidak of Turkey 6-1 in the quarterfinals. After suffering a 14-9 defeat to Mukhamed Tahir Khaniev of Russia in the semifinals, Azimi bounced back to defeat Simonyan of Armenia 10-0 for the bronze medal.
125 kg: Abolfazl Mohammadnejad had a bye in the first round. He then defeated Kochanov of Ukraine 10-0 and Bestaev of Russia 11-0. In the semifinals, he overcame Khetag Karsanov of Azerbaijan 5-0. Mohammadnejad secured his gold medal with a dominant 10-0 technical fall victory against Aleksandr Abramishvili of Georgia in the final.
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