Iran freestylers win two gold, one silver

Mohammadhossein Mohammadian (97kg) and Yones Emami (74kg) snatched the gold medals while Amirmohammad Yazdani (65kg) settled for a silver.

Emami took the title when Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (UZB) defaulted, and Mohammadian received a forfeit from Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Magomed Ibragimov (UZB) at 97kg.

Mohammadian, who returned from a four-year doping ban, said he will try to live up to the Iranian tradition of excellence in the 97kg class set by the legendary two-time world champion Reza Yazdani. "Definitely I feel the pressure of replicating what Reza Yazdani did for Iran at 97," Mohammadian told United World Wrestling press service. "I have forgotten about the bad times when I was banned for four years and now I am only training to win gold at the Olympics. That is the only thing that will satisfy me after what happened."

Yazdani lost to Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev 15-13 at the 65kg final and won a silver medal.

The Iranian trio had qualified for Tokyo with victories in the semifinals in the afternoon session in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Here are results of the freestyle competitions:

57kg
GOLD - Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) df. Minghu LIU (CHN) by TF, 10-0, 3:46
BRONZE - Bekbolot MYRZANAZAR UULU (KGZ) df. Sunggwon KIM (KOR) by TF, 11-0, 3:53
BRONZE - Muhammad IKROMOV (TJK) df. Tuvshintulga TUMENBILEG (MGL), 7-6

65kg
GOLD - Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) df. Amir Mohammad YAZDANI (IRI), 15-13
BRONZE - Kerim HOJAKOV (TKM) df. Ilyas BEKBULATOV (UZB) by Default
BRONZE - Haji ALI (BRN) df. Mohammed ABDULKAREEM (KUW) by TF, 10-0, :58

74kg
GOLD - Yones EMAMICHOGHAEI (IRI) df. Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) by Default
BRONZE - Elaman DOGDURBEK UULU (KGZ) df. Bat Erdene BYAMBASUREN (MGL), 2-2
BRONZE - Menghejigan MENGHEJIGAN (CHN) df. Sandeep MANN (INDIA) by TF, 14-4, 3:40

86kg
GOLD - Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB) df. Zushen LIN (CHN), 7-3
BRONZE - Sohsuke TAKATANI (JPN) df. Nurtilek KARYPBAEV (KGZ), 6-1
BRONZE - Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ) df. Bakhodur KODIROV (TJK), 6-3

97kg
GOLD - Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) df. Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UZB) by Default
BRONZE - Muhammad INAM (PAK) df. Symbat SULAIMANOV (KGZ), 10-7
BRONZE - Satywart KADIAN (IND) df. Zyyamuhammet SAPAROV (TKM), 5-0

125kg
GOLD - Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) df. Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL), 4-2
BRONZE - Sumit SUMIT (IND) df. Donghwan KIM (KOR), 5-0
BRONZE - Aiaal LAZAREV (KGZ) df. Tetsuya TANAKA (JPN) by Default

MAH/PR