Iran win U23 World Greco-Roman team title

TEHRAN – Iran U23 Greco-Roman team managed to win the team title of the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas, United States.

Iran finished with 119 points, five more than Kazakhstan which finished a surprising second with 114 points. Russia was third with 105 points.

Asian silver medalist Erfan Jarkani held on to a 1-1 criteria lead against Manato Nakamura (JPN) to win the 63kg gold. Nakamura challenged at the end of the bout but there was no foul or fleeing from Jarkani, who won with a final score of 2-1.

At 87kg, Yasin Yazdi, also a Asian Championships silver medalist, won his career first-ever gold medal with a 4-0 victory over Temirlan Turdakyn from Kazakhstan in the final. He got the par terre position in the first period but did not score any points.

However, he began the second period with a takedown and that eliminated any chances of him being put in par terre. Yazdi was awarded the second passivity as well which extended his lead to 4-0.

“I’d been waiting for this gold for about two or three years,” Yazdi said. “I was able to win it here, and I hope I can keep winning gold medals in the future.”

Yazdi said that before the final, he was aware of the Turdakyn’s shortcoming and prepared more for exchanges in standing than par terre.

“Before the final, I knew I could win the match because I felt my opponent wasn’t as well-prepared as I was,” he said. “My opponent was tall and I may have trouble taking him down and controlling him on the mat. So, I focused most of my effort on the standing exchanges. I could tell that my opponent was starting to get tired in the last 30 seconds of the first period, so in the second period I put even more pressure on him.”