Iran wrestling news

[Irani]

Major upsets in the Islamic games

97 kg Tajhidinov lost to Aitumukhan 15-3

86 Kg Ghassempour lost to Dzhioev 5-3

74 Kg Emami beat Kaipanov 6-5 and ended up winning gold after defeating Azerbajan in the finals

[Lucho]

4 hours ago, Irani said:

Major upsets in the Islamic games

97 kg Tajhidinov lost to Aitumukhan 15-3

86 Kg Ghassempour lost to Dzhioev 5-3

74 Kg Emami beat Kaipanov 6-5 and ended up winning gold after defeating Azerbajan in the finals

I think Tazhudinov is finished at 97kg. I reckon he moves up to 125kg as he has a better shot at winning medals there than having to go through Snyder, Sadulaev, Azarpira, Aitmukhan and Yoshida. Ghasempour I think cannot make 86kg without having a significant drop in performance he should compete at 92kg from now on. Still he shouldn't be losing to Dzhioev something is clearly wrong with him. Emami ended up surprising me and did quite well but he always has these sort of moments but he can't replicate it at worlds. I'm not sure whether its a mental thing but he seems to never have all the right pieces at once when it comes to the important competitions. I also think 74kg is so deep that you really need to be on to medal because of the parity.

[Window12]

Amouzad  was on fire in this last Islamic Solidarity Games… the final match he was uncontainable. I don’t see many folks beating him in the next little while unless he has an injury or something 

[Truzzcat]

Amouzad looks like the p4p best guy in the world right now. Taz is perplexing me it almost looks like he lost that feel a little bit that made him so hard to figure out before. Ghas should really focus on 92 and 97 I know he wants 86kg for the olympics but unless he literally strips muscle off of his body its just not a good weight for him.

[Window12]

Younes Emami is 28 and been competing at very high level for a few years. He has been consistent at the level of being 3rd  to 10th in the weight year on year. We may want someone who is consistent at 1st to 5th year on year but Iran doesn’t have one at 74 at that level. Each year he has about10-15% chance of medalling and he could have another 3-4 years perhaps a bit longer at that level given his consistent performance at his level. At least he keeps Iran in it in a very deep weight.

[Irani]

On 11/22/2025 at 11:45 AM, Truzzcat said:

 Ghas should really focus on 92 and 97 I know he wants 86kg for the olympics but unless he literally strips muscle off of his body its just not a good weight for him.

As you said, he wants 86 Kg for the Olympics.  I don't think he has a chance of making the Olympics team at 97 with Azarpira, Yazdani, and probably Firouzpour competing for it, and even if he did, his chances of medaling are very low.

So if he wants to medal in the Olympics, 86 is his only chance.  If Rahimi, who is only 19, keeps improving, Ghassempour may not make the team at 86 either.

I am not convinced all his problems are caused by his weight loss.  He lost a match at 92 against Sadulaev, that he should have won if it wasn't for a mental mistake in the last 10 seconds.  I think that really impacted him mentally.  He then lost another match DT where he was ahead, and could have won if he had wrestled smarter.

The following hear, he won a tough match at 86 against Kadiev, and I was hoping that may be the end of his problems, but he then got destroyed by Zahid in the finals, and how lost a match against the young Azari.

I am afraid his best days may be behind him, and Rahimi may end up representing Iran in the Olympics.

 

[Irani]

On 11/22/2025 at 7:13 PM, Window12 said:

Younes Emami is 28 and been competing at very high level for a few years. He has been consistent at the level of being 3rd  to 10th in the weight year on year. We may want someone who is consistent at 1st to 5th year on year but Iran doesn’t have one at 74 at that level. Each year he has about10-15% chance of medalling and he could have another 3-4 years perhaps a bit longer at that level given his consistent performance at his level. At least he keeps Iran in it in a very deep weight.

yes, at the moment, he is Iran's best hope at 74.  Unless some new young guy shows up, he will most likely represent Iran at the Olympics, and if he gets a good draw, may get a bronze.

I have given up on Amir Yazdani, who, at one time, thought is Iran's future hope for 74.

[shiraz321]

Emami in 2028? It would be a disaster if he makes 2 olympic teams. And close to 3, he nearly made it in 2021 but Hosseinkhani stopped him, lol. I don't think he will make it in 2028 anyway. 

[Truzzcat]

23 minutes ago, shiraz321 said:

Emami in 2028? It would be a disaster if he makes 2 olympic teams. And close to 3, he nearly made it in 2021 but Hosseinkhani stopped him, lol. I don't think he will make it in 2028 anyway. 

is there any world shamispour can get down to 74 or is he going to be a 79/86?

[shiraz321]

32 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

is there any world shamispour can get down to 74 or is he going to be a 79/86?

Shamsipour wrestles at 86 right now. He is 18, so going down to 74 is impossible. I think Sina Khalili can be good at 74. 

[Lucho]

It's honestly hard to say whether Rahmani or Khalili can become established guys at 86 and 74kg respectively. Rahmani has been dealing with a lot of injuries and Khalili still hasn't moved up and wrestled at 74 yet. Ghasempour imo will still be Iran's best 86kg until 2028 unless Rahmani or someone else drastically improves. I feel like Khalili can take Emami's spot but that's purely because Emami isn't really that good. My opinion is that Hassan Yazdani stays at 86kg, Ghasempour at 92kg and Azarpira at 97kg but that is probably impossible at this point. It's honestly hard to see any other alternative that works teamwise.

[bnwtwg]

On 11/22/2025 at 2:45 PM, Truzzcat said:

Taz is perplexing me it almost looks like he lost that feel a little bit that made him so hard to figure out before.

Shoulder surgery will do that to a wrestler, even one considered the p4p best in the world

[Lucho]

On 11/25/2025 at 6:49 AM, Irani said:

yes, at the moment, he is Iran's best hope at 74.  Unless some new young guy shows up, he will most likely represent Iran at the Olympics, and if he gets a good draw, may get a bronze.

I have given up on Amir Yazdani, who, at one time, thought is Iran's future hope for 74.

Amir Mohammad Yazdani is one of those guys that needs a coach who can reign him in. He is obviously incredibly talented but he has fallen off drastically since he got silver at worlds a couple years ago. Otherwise he would've been our 74kg rep by now and possibly a world champ. 

[Lucho]

On 11/23/2025 at 6:45 AM, Truzzcat said:

Amouzad looks like the p4p best guy in the world right now. Taz is perplexing me it almost looks like he lost that feel a little bit that made him so hard to figure out before. Ghas should really focus on 92 and 97 I know he wants 86kg for the olympics but unless he literally strips muscle off of his body its just not a good weight for him.

I still think that Sadulaev is p4p number 1 unless proven otherwise. However Amouzad and Zare I think are definitely in that conversation. Its just a shame that our coaching staff can't get the most out of our guys when it matters or else we would have won a lot more golds in the last 3-4 years imo. 

[Irani]

13 hours ago, shiraz321 said:

Emami in 2028? It would be a disaster if he makes 2 olympic teams. And close to 3, he nearly made it in 2021 but Hosseinkhani stopped him, lol. I don't think he will make it in 2028 anyway. 

I think you are being a little harsh.  Agree that Emami has not done great in the past, but he just defeated the word champion after being down 5-1.  You have to give him some credit for that.

Here is a video showing some of that match https://www.aparat.com/v/kyo437p

I also would LOVE to see if Sina can bulk up to 74 and challenge for the spot in the olympics

[shiraz321]

6 hours ago, Irani said:

I think you are being a little harsh.  Agree that Emami has not done great in the past, but he just defeated the word champion after being down 5-1.  You have to give him some credit for that.

Here is a video showing some of that match https://www.aparat.com/v/kyo437p

I also would LOVE to see if Sina can bulk up to 74 and challenge for the spot in the olympics

He teched Kaipanov before, lol. This is Emami's prime. He will be 31 in 2028. He got a bronze at 74 in 2022 somehow wrestling India in the bronze medal match. If he makes 8 straight world teams from 2021 to 2028 that will be ridiculous. But he struggles to make the team anyway and has been getting some help from the coaches the past few couple years after losing to domestic rivals. I wonder when they stop pushing him onto teams based off one good match with Kyle Dake and a bronze in a weak bracket. Considering his domestic struggles and getting older I would be surprised if he keeps the spot in 2028.  

[Irani]

8 hours ago, shiraz321 said:

He teched Kaipanov before, lol. This is Emami's prime. He will be 31 in 2028. He got a bronze at 74 in 2022 somehow wrestling India in the bronze medal match. If he makes 8 straight world teams from 2021 to 2028 that will be ridiculous. But he struggles to make the team anyway and has been getting some help from the coaches the past few couple years after losing to domestic rivals. I wonder when they stop pushing him onto teams based off one good match with Kyle Dake and a bronze in a weak bracket. Considering his domestic struggles and getting older I would be surprised if he keeps the spot in 2028.  

No argument with anything you wrote, other than dismissing his performance against Kaipanov and Dake.  I would say his biggest problem is in consistency, but at his best, he is a medal contender.  Also agree with the age concern.

Let's hope Sina Khalili can bulk up, or somehow Amir Reza Yazdani gets his head straightened out by someone.

I would not be shocked if Amouzad ends up in 74 for the 32 olympics.

 

[GrandOlm]

On 11/19/2025 at 6:54 PM, Irani said:

Other than Hedayati in heavyweight, this was definitely Iran's A team.

The Hedayati / Mirzazadeh situation is reminiscent of the Massoumi/Zare situation.  It will be interesting to see how it will play out

The GR competition for Gr in the Islamic games with Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkey is more competitive than freestyle with US, Japan and Russia missing.

I think it's even worse because Iran has the three best heavyweights in the world. Yousefi is already 28. It's quite remarkable that someone with wins like him is going to have such a stunted career in the current era. 

The best wrestler outside of Iran is..... Semenov? Someone we know doesn't have the offense to hurt Mirzazadeh, was exhausted and broken by Yousefi, and is probably on the decline already (given his throw/lift based explosive style). 

I don't see any promising young guys from the rest of the world. Vitek is so mediocre, Bakir is big and sometimes tough to score on. These U23 types Russia outs out are these unremarkable plodders without great athleticism or much to their game. 

[shiraz321]

1 hour ago, Irani said:

No argument with anything you wrote, other than dismissing his performance against Kaipanov and Dake.  I would say his biggest problem is in consistency, but at his best, he is a medal contender.  Also agree with the age concern.

Let's hope Sina Khalili can bulk up, or somehow Amir Reza Yazdani gets his head straightened out by someone.

I would not be shocked if Amouzad ends up in 74 for the 32 olympics.

 

He can bulk up. Emami was wrestling at 61kg or 60kg (whatever the junior weight was) when he was Khalili's age. 

[Irani]

3 hours ago, GrandOlm said:

I think it's even worse because Iran has the three best heavyweights in the world. Yousefi is already 28. It's quite remarkable that someone with wins like him is going to have such a stunted career in the current era. 

The best wrestler outside of Iran is..... Semenov? Someone we know doesn't have the offense to hurt Mirzazadeh, was exhausted and broken by Yousefi, and is probably on the decline already (given his throw/lift based explosive style). 

I don't see any promising young guys from the rest of the world. Vitek is so mediocre, Bakir is big and sometimes tough to score on. These U23 types Russia outs out are these unremarkable plodders without great athleticism or much to their game. 

Good points

[nhs67]

On 11/24/2025 at 2:47 PM, Irani said:

As you said, he wants 86 Kg for the Olympics.  I don't think he has a chance of making the Olympics team at 97 with Azarpira, Yazdani, and probably Firouzpour competing for it, and even if he did, his chances of medaling are very low.

So if he wants to medal in the Olympics, 86 is his only chance.  If Rahimi, who is only 19, keeps improving, Ghassempour may not make the team at 86 either.

I am not convinced all his problems are caused by his weight loss.  He lost a match at 92 against Sadulaev, that he should have won if it wasn't for a mental mistake in the last 10 seconds.  I think that really impacted him mentally.  He then lost another match DT where he was ahead, and could have won if he had wrestled smarter.

The following hear, he won a tough match at 86 against Kadiev, and I was hoping that may be the end of his problems, but he then got destroyed by Zahid in the finals, and how lost a match against the young Azari.

I am afraid his best days may be behind him, and Rahimi may end up representing Iran in the Olympics.

 

You're not being fair.  He got the first takedown and gave up the second takedown.  Your statement is true, however it isn't as if he outwrestled David Taylor or he wrestled poorly.  David Taylor is really good.  The way you say it is as if Ghasempour lost on poor decision making, when that simply isn't true.

[Husker_Du]

On 11/21/2025 at 5:12 PM, Lucho said:

I think Tazhudinov is finished at 97kg. I reckon he moves up to 125kg as he has a better shot at winning medals there than having to go through Snyder, Sadulaev, Azarpira, Aitmukhan and Yoshida. Ghasempour I think cannot make 86kg without having a significant drop in performance he should compete at 92kg from now on. Still he shouldn't be losing to Dzhioev something is clearly wrong with him. Emami ended up surprising me and did quite well but he always has these sort of moments but he can't replicate it at worlds. I'm not sure whether its a mental thing but he seems to never have all the right pieces at once when it comes to the important competitions. I also think 74kg is so deep that you really need to be on to medal because of the parity.

fwiw he weighed in at 223.4 for RAF

[wrestlingfan22]

Azimi beat Firouzpour. The depth at 92kg for Iran is insane—those two Ghas and Yazdani. For 2028, can any of them other than Ghas make 86? Or will they all be at 97 competing with Azarpira?

[bnwtwg]

10 hours ago, Husker_Du said:

fwiw he weighed in at 223.4 for RAF

We have an international guest visiting during a holiday of feasting and you couldn't even give them an extra helping of stuffing or mashed potatoes & gravy? For shame.

[shiraz321]

22 minutes ago, wrestlingfan22 said:

Azimi beat Firouzpour. The depth at 92kg for Iran is insane—those two Ghas and Yazdani. For 2028, can any of them other than Ghas make 86? Or will they all be at 97 competing with Azarpira?

Azimi tried to make 86 before and it was a disaster. I am sure they will all go 97 for the Olympics.