Esmaeili edges past Jafarov to reach Greco-Roman wrestling world final

Tehran - BORNA - During the preliminary rounds of the final three weight categories at the Greco-Roman Wrestling World Championships in Kazakhstan, Esmaeili, the Iranian wrestling phenomenon and Olympic gold medalist, faced Azerbaijan's Hasrat Jafarov, an Olympic bronze and world silver medalist, in the 67kg semifinals. The intense and tightly contested bout ended in a 1-1 draw, but Esmaeili emerged victorious on criteria by securing the last point, booking his ticket to the championship match.

Esmaeili had a brilliant run to reach the top four. In the first round, he dominated his Dutch opponent with a decisive 10-0 technical superiority victory. He continued his strong performance by blanking China's Jin Sinxin 11-0 in the next stage. The Iranian grappler then defeated Kazakhstan's Baghdat Sabaz 7-2 in the quarterfinals to power his way into the semifinals.

Esmaeili's advancement added to the overall success of the Iranian Greco-Roman wrestling squad. Earlier in the day, Alireza Mohmadi also secured his spot in the 87kg final with a commanding victory over his rival. However, Mohammad Mehdi Keshtkar, Iran's representative in the 63kg category, was eliminated from the competition after suffering a defeat.

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