In the final of men’s 97kg category, Karimi suffered a 3-3 criteria defeat against U23 World silver medalist Kollin Moore of the USA.
“Both wrestlers exchanged a point each for step out before the Iranian scored a takedown to lead 3-1. His continued pressure on Moore was about to pay off with a step out but the American survived the push and countered with a double leg to score a takedown. That give him the lead on criteria and the gold in Rome,” reads a report by the UWW press service.
Kazakhstan’s Alisher Yergali and USA’s Hayden Nicholas Zillmer won bronze medals in this category.
Karimi had downed Zillmer 6-2 and Turkey’s Ibrahim Ciftci 10-0 in the path to the final.
This was Karimi’s first presence in the international event in the past 15 months. He suffered a knee ligament injury during World Wrestling Clubs Cup in December 2019 in Bojnurd. The 2019 world silver medalist undergone a successful knee injury in April 2019.
“Alireza was out of the competitions for months and he is also wrestling in a new weight category,” Iranian team’s coach Ebrahim Mehraban said on Sunday. “Considering the surgery, he has had a growing performance because it is not so long that he returned to the mat. The Italian tournament was helpful for Karimi.”
A ranking series, the Matteo Pellicone competitions kicked off on March 4 in Greco-Roman, freestyle, and women’s categories and will wrap up today.
PHOTO: Alireza Karimi in a match against Zillmer on Saturday (By Kadir Caliskan / UWW)
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