According to Mehr’s reporter, freestyle wrestling competitions in the ranking tournament of Zagreb will be held from 20 to 25 December in Croatia, and according to the announcement of the World Wrestling Federation, 11 wrestlers from Iran will participate in these competitions.
This tournament is the first stage of freestyle wrestling ranking competitions in 2024 and it is Mohsen Kaveh’s first experience as the head coach of the national freestyle wrestling team.
Rahman Amozad and Abbas Ibrahimzadeh in 65 kg, Yunus Emami and Hossein Abazari in 74 kg, Mohammad Nakhudi and Abdullah Sheikh Azami in 79 kg, Hadi Vafaipour in 86 kg, Kamran Qasimpour and Amir Ali Azarpira in 97 kg and Amir Hossein Zare and Amirreza Masoumi in 125 kg. kg to wrestle in Zagreb tournament.
The most sensitive match will be held in 97 kg weight, where Kamran Qasimpour will have to compete with Amir Ali Azarpira. Ghasempour, who unfortunately missed the world championships and did not participate in the first round of the national team selection cycle due to injury, is likely to face world and Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder from the United States. He lost to this wrestler in the American World Championships.
Also, in the weight of 125 kg, Amir Hossein Zare and Amirreza Masoumi are the two representatives of Iran in this competition.
In the weight of 86 kg, Hadi Vafaipour will participate in this tournament in the absence of Hassan Yazdani. If he wins, he has the chance to face Hasan Yazdani to participate in the Olympics.
Tomorrow, the national freestyle wrestling team will leave for Zagreb, Croatia. From Wednesday, January 20th, the freestyle wrestling competitions will be held in the weights of 57, 61, 65, 70, 74, and 86 kg. Also, the final of these weights will be held in the evening of the same day. On Thursday, December 21, the competitions in the weights of 79, 92, 97 and 125 kg will be followed in the preliminary stage until the final.
This competition is considered one of the stages of the selection cycle of the national freestyle wrestling team, and therefore it is very important for the wrestlers present in this competition. According to the announcement of the World Wrestling Federation, wrestlers such as “Gno Petriashvili” who holds Olympic silver and bronze medals and 3 world gold medals from Georgia, “Zhi Deng” who holds silver and bronze medals from China, and “Nicolas Gojazdovsky” who holds 2 world bronze medals and Mason Paris. The 2023 world bronze medalist from America is present. The legendary Jordan Burroughs was supposed to participate in this tournament in the weight of 74 kg, but the World Union announced his withdrawal from this tournament.
A few days ago, visas were issued for some wrestlers to participate in this tournament, but the visa of Mehdi Taghavi, who was recently among the staff members, has not yet been issued, and due to this, he probably will not accompany the wrestlers in this tournament.