The Asian Senior Wrestling Championships kicked off in the Indian capital of New Delhi on May 10, and will run through May 14.
On the opening day of freestyle division, Iran’s Reza Atri (57kg) prevailed over Makhmudjon Shavkatov from Uzbekistan 8-6 in the qualification round. He later sustained a 2-5 defeat against Japan’s Yuki Takahashi and was led to the repechage round where he defeated Pinai Nuyson of Thailand by technical fall. Atri is slated to take up South Korean rival Sunggwon Kim in a bid to bag a bronze medal.
Competing at 65kg weight category, Iran’s Meisam Nasiri had a similar faith to his compatriot Reza Atri as he will face North Korea’s Kukgwang Kim in a third-place debut. Nasiri had downed Meirzhan Ashirov of Kazakhstan 8-5 in the opening round but failed to overcome the Indian counterpart Bajrang Bajrang in the next. He came back to the tournament by pulling off an 8-3 win over Sirojiddin Hasanov of Uzbekistan.
Bahman Teymouri, who represented Iran in the 74kg weight division, suffered a loss against Muslim Evlaev of Kyrgyzstan and was led to the second-chance group. He later managed to win over Byungmin Gong of Korea technical fall 12-2. In order to stand on the third podium, Teymouri needs to get the better of Tsubasa Asai from Japan.
Iran’s Hossein Shahbazzadeh (97kg) struck an off draw in the first round and thrashed South Korea’s Minwon Seo SEO 10-0 by technical all. Determined to reach the final showdown, the Iranian freestyler trounced Naoya Akaguma of Japan 6-2 in the semifinals. He is scheduled to meet Magomed Idrisovitch Ibragimov from Uzbekistan in an attempt to win the Asian title.
Asian Wrestling Championships is the Wrestling Asian Championship organized by the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC). The men's tournament began in 1979 and The women's tournament was first staged in 1996, and it has been held every year.
Meanwhile, the 2017 edition of the prestigious continental event is scheduled to kick off on May 10 in the Indian capital of New Delhi and will run through May 14.
Prior to freestyle competitions, the Iranian men's national Greco-Roman wrestling team stood on top of the podium with 69 points followed by the Kazakh outfit, which accumulated 59 points to be named the vice champion. South Korea also garnered 59 points but ranked third.
The tournament has brought together dozens of male and female freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers from various Asian countries, including China, Chinese Taipei, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand and Uzbekistan.
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