Greco-Roman wrestlers in the first four weight categories of World Championships began debut on medals on Monday in the French capital of Paris where Iranian representatives in 71, 75 and 85kg divisions managed to stand on the third podium.
Mohammd Ali Geraei (71kg) presented astonishing athletic performances in the third-place match when he phenomenally turned the result in his favor at a time when the Moldavian rival had taken a 7-0 lead. He tightened the pressure against Daniel Cataraga until he won the tough showdown 10-8. The stunning victory brought home Iran’s first bronze medal in the prestigious sportive event.
The Iranian wrestler had struck an off draw in the preliminary round while he had later downed Georgian and French opponents. Geraei, however, failed to breeze past Germany’s Frank Staebler and was led to the second-chance group where he thrashed Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan Republic 16-14.
Iran’s second bronze trophy was secured by Saeid Abdevali (75kg) who, despite a disappointing start, found a place in the repechage round where he overcame contestants from Kazakhstan and Armenia. Later in the bronze-medal competition, the Persian Greco-Roman fighter pulled out a firm and decisive 8-0 victory over Kazbek Kilou of Belarus.
Hossein Noori, who was fighting in 85-klogram weight group, defeated Eividas Stankevicius of Lithuania 7-5 as well as Estonia’s Eerik Aps 3-1 before pulling put a 6-4 win over Viktor Lorincz from Hungary in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Nouri suffered a loss against Denis Maksymilian Kudla of Germany in the semifinals though he later found a place in the third-place competitions. Iran’s powerful representative landed third by gaining the upper hand over Islam Abbasov of Azerbaijan Republic 4-0.
Iranian wrestler at 98kg Seyed Mostafa Salehizadeh however failed to snatch medals after suffering defeats against Armenian and Georgian opponents.
As per the schedule announced by United World Wrestling, the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling, Greco-Roman athletes will compete for medals on August 21-22 while freestylers will meet rivals on August 25-26.
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