World Championships 2021
No sooner had the Olympic Games ended than the next important championship was upon us. This World Wrestling Championships took place in Oslo, Norway. This time Iran won by far the most gold medals. 7 in this case, followed by Russia with 4 and the USA with 3 gold medals.
Here are some Highlights:
Freestyle
Gold FS – 61 kg: Daton Fix, USA vs. Abasgadzhi Magomedov, Russia
Two high class wrestlers meet in the final. Fix won all his four fights by technical superiority. Magomedov can record two wins by fall and one technical superiority. He is the current junior world champion and technically first-class. It is worth watching the preliminaries of both wrestlers as well.
Repechage FS – 61 kg: Georgi Vangelov, Bulgaria vs. Ravinder Ravinder, India
A high-point lead ends by a loss on fall.
Gold FS – 65 kg: Amirmohammad Yazdani, Iran vs. Zagir Shakhiev, Russia
The relative of world champion Hassan Yazdani, Amir Yazdani, faces none other than this year’s European champion Zagir Shakhiev in the final. Shakhiev cleverly outscores his opponent and leaves Yazdani no chance.
FS – 70 kg: Magomedomurad Ghadzhiev become the first freestyle world champion from Poland. He wins the final against Ernazar Akmataliev from Kazakhstan.
FS – 79 kg: Jordan Burroughs from USA is back in his old shape and wins the final against Mohammad Nokhodilarimi from Iran.
Gold FS – 86 kg: David Taylor, USA vs. Hassan Yazdani, Iran
This is the fourth time Taylor and Yazdani faces each other. The last three clashes Taylor could decide in his favor. He won all preliminaries early, 2 of them by win by fall. Yazdani didn’t want to miss the fourth chance. That was already evident from his look.
Gold FS – 92 kg: Magomed Kurbanov, Russia vs. Kamran Ghasempour, Iran
In this World Championship final, reigning European Champion Magomed Kurbanov and reigning Asian Champion Kamran Ghasempour face each other. The fight is especially exciting in the last seconds. The Iranian eliminated two-time world champion J’den Cox in the semifinals. Previously Cox won all 3 preliminaries early by technical superiority.
Gold FS – 97 kg: Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Russia vs. Kyle Snyder, USA
The fight that everyone has been waiting for: Sadulaev against Synder. Since 2014 the „Russian Tank“ has lost only once. Incredible!
Greco-Roman
1/2 GR – 60 kg: Victor Ciobanu, Moldova vs. Gevorg Gharibyan, Armenia
Cibanu is behind in all his fights at the beginning. However, due to his strength on the ground, he leverage each of his opponents. In the final he defeats the Kazakh Zholaman Sharshenbekov.
1/2 GR – 67 kg: Mohammadreza Geraei, Iran vs. Ramaz Zoidze, Georgia
A strong performance also delivers the reigning Olympic champion Iranian Mohammadreza Geraei. In the semifinal against the Georgian Ramaz Zoidze, he is behind by 4 points until the last 15 seconds of the fight and still makes the almost impossible possible. In the final he meet the Russian Nazir Abdullaev.
1/2 GR – 72 kg: Malkhas Amoyan, Armenia vs. Mohammad Mokhtari, Iran
The weight class is strong with Cengiz Arslan from Turkey, Sergei Kutuzov from Russia, Gevorg Sahakyan from Poland, Kristupas Sleiva from Lithuania and Mohammad Mokhtari from Iran. But it is Armenian Malkhas Amoyan who makes the running. In his corner is none other than his uncle Roman Amoyan, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist and multiple European champion.
GR – 77 kg: Roman Vlasov from Russia defeats Sanan Suleymanov, Azerbaijan, in the final. The two-time Olympic and two-time world champion has dominated the weight class.
Gold GR – 87 kg: Zurabi Datunashvili, Serbia vs. Kiryl Maskevich, Belarus
The two strongest in the weight class face each other in the final. The bout is a remake of the European Championship final of 2021.