Iranians continue stellar showing in Asian event

Grapplers battle it out at Aspire yesterday.

By Sports Reporter/DohaThe Iranian freestyle grapplers continued to dominate at the Senior Asian Wrestling championship at Aspire. After bagging three gold medals on day one, the Iranians yesterday clinched two more to finish atop the team rankings with 68 team points. They also won two silver and a bronze.Japan, who earned three silver medals over two days, finished in second spot with 60 points, while Kyrgyzstan was placed third with one gold and two silver for 54 points.The first gold of the night for Iran came from Peyman Yarahmadi, who eased past Daisuke Shimada of Japan 8-2 in the 74kg finals. The No.9 ranked wrestler, Yarahmadi was at ease in the final securing back-to-back takedowns in the second period to pull away from Shimada.Iran’s other gold medal came from Mohammadhossein Mohammadian, who put in a dominating display to beat No.11 ranked Magomed Musaev of Kyrgyzstan 10-3 in the 97kg category.Mohammadian went on the attack early and never relented, scoring a series of takedowns on the edge of the mat over Musaev, who is also the Asian Championship runner-up in 2014.In the 61kg category, World No.11 Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan battled past Iran’s Behnam Ehsanpoor to take gold. The exciting bout went into final seconds and Niyazbekov secured a 3-3 criteria victory. Niyazbekov earned the win after Ehsanpoor gave up a caution in the first period and was unable to score after a flurry of activity in the final seconds.Asian Games champion and 2014 World bronze medalist Bekzod Abdurakhmonov of Uzbekistan toppled Zelimkhan Yusupov of Tajikistan 6-4 in a thrilling back-and-forth match to win the 70kg title.Yusupov, who is ranked No. 4 in the world, used twisting defence and creative finishes to frustrate the No.9 ranked Abdurakhmanov. However, the Uzbeki wrestler stayed aggressive on the outside single to find his finish with less than thirty seconds remaining on the clock and secure his first Asian Championship gold.In the only women’s contest of the night, Vinesh of India looked to have secured an upset, but trailing 2-1, Yuki Irie of Japan found a right side high crotch with 10 seconds remaining on the clock to steal a 3-2 victory. It was Japan’s second gold in women’s wrestling after three-time Olympic and nine-time World champion Kaori Icho took the 58kg title on Wednesday.On her way to the final, Vinesh comfortably beat Tatyana Amanzhol-Bakatyuk of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals after getting the better of Mongolia’s Tsogtbaatar Byambazaya in quarter-finals 8-0.Today, competitions will be held for 53kg, 55kg, 60kg, 63kg and 69kg title. The qualifications starts from 9 am and the finals will begin at 6pm.ResultsMen’s freestyle -- 61kgGold: Daulet Niyazbekov (Kaz) bt Behnam Eshagh Ehsanpoor (Iri) via criteria, 3-3Bronze: Batbold Nomin (Mgl) bt Adilet Mamataev (Kgz) by fallBronze: Masakazu Kamoi (Jpn) bt Zhenguang Tian (chn) by tf, 12-2Men’s freestyle -- 70kgGold: Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Uzb) bt Zelimkhan Yusupov (Tjk), 6-4Bronze: Elaman Dogdurbek Uulu (Kgz) bt Gantulga Iderkhuu (Mgl) by tf, 12-2Bronze: Takafumi Kojima (Jpn) bt Parveen Rana (Ind) via criteria, 2-2Men’s freestyle -- 74kgGold: Peyman Morteza Yarahmadi (Iri) bt Daisuke Shimada (Jpn), 8-2Bronze: Rashid Kurbanov (Uzb) bt Muslim Evloev (Kgz), 3-0Bronze: Narsingh Pancham Yadav (Ind) bt Zhiger Zakirov (Kaz) by criteria, 8-8Men’s freestyle -- 97kgGold: Mohammadhossein Mohammadian (Iri) bt Magomed Musaev (Kgz), 10-3Bronze: Takeshi Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Alikhan Jumayev (Kaz), 3-1Bronze: Jaegang Kim (Kor) bt Mohammed Al Obaidi (Irq) by tf, 10-0Women’s wrestling -- 48kgGold: Yuki Irie (Jpn) bt Vinesh (Ind), 3-2Bronze: Tatyana Amanzhol-Bakatyuk (Kaz) bt Byambazaya Tsogtbaatar, 5-2Bronze: Hyon Gyong Kim (Prk) bt Yumi Lee (Kor) via criteria, 2-2.