#WrestleSofia

Iran Sends Four to Semifinals at Cadet World Championships

Monday, July 29, 2019 - 14:01 By Taylor Miller

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Photo of Rahman Mousa AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI).

SOFIA, Bulgaria – There is a star-studded group today competing in the semifinals of the 2019 Cadet World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, including multiple World and Youth Olympic Games champions as well as several continental champions.

Iran put four of its five athletes into the semifinals on the first day of competition.

Highlighting the group is Rahman Mousa AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI), who is a returning Cadet World champion, winning gold at 45 kg in 2018. This year, he is wrestling at 48 kg and will face 2018 Cadet Pan American champion Stevo POULIN (USA) in the semis.

Amouzadkhalili also has a couple of continental championships under his belt, claiming gold medals at the 2018 and 2019 Cadet Asian Championships.

In the other semifinal, we’ll see a rematch of the 2019 Cadet Asian Championships bronze medal match with Kamronbek KADAMOV (UZB) taking on Udit UDIT (IND). The last time they wrestled, Kadamov walked away with the bronze medal after a 10-4 victory.

At 55 kg, two-time Cadet Asian bronze medalist Mahdi Mehrdad VEISI (IRI) will represent Iran in the semis. He finished fifth in the 2018 Cadet World Championships.

Tonight, Veisi will face Robert HOWARD (USA) in another Iran vs. USA matchup.

Howard is a 2018 Youth Olympic Games champion and owns top-10 finishes at the 2017 and 2018 Cadet World Championships.

Photo of Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB).

The other matchup at 55 kg features another 2018 Youth Olympic Games champion, Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB), who won at 45 kg. Jalolov is also a 2017 Cadet World champion at 42 kg.

A two-time Cadet Asian champion, Jalolov will go against 2019 Cadet European silver medalist and 2018 Cadet European bronze medalist Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR).

Others competing for Iran tonight are 2019 Cadet Asian champions Amirhossein Biglar FIROUZPOURBANDPEI at 80 kg and Salar Saeid HABIBIEHSAN at 110 kg.

Firouzpourbandpei will wrestle Denys SAHALIUK of Ukraine, while Habibiehsan will face Arsamag ZASSEEV from Russia.

Photo of  Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE).

Zasseev is one of three Russians seeking a spot in the finals.

Also competing for Russia is 2018 U15 European Championships gold medalist and 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival silver medalist Batyrbek TSKHOVREBOV at 65 kg and 2018 U15 European champion Arslan BAGAEV at 80 kg.

Two other 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival are in the semifinal field at 65 kg as champion Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) will battle bronze winner Davit PATSINASHVILI (GEO) tonight.

Below are the remaining matchups.

The semifinals begin at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET). Fans can watch live on unitedworldwrestling.org.  

Semifinals matchups
48 kg   
Stevo Ross POULIN (USA) vs. Rahman Mousa AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI)
Kamronbek KADAMOV (UZB) vs. Udit UDIT (IND)

55 kg
Mahdi Mehrdad VEISI (IRI) vs. Robert Kelly HOWARD (USA)
Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR) vs. Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB)

65 kg
Manish GOSWAMI (IND) vs. Batyrbek TSKHOVREBOV (RUS)
Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) vs. Davit PATSINASHVILI (GEO)

80 kg
Amirhossein Biglar FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (IRI) vs. Denys SAHALIUK (UKR)
Emre CIFTCI (TUR) vs. Arslan BAGAEV (RUS)

110 kg
Salar Saeid HABIBIEHSANI (IRI) vs. Arsamag ZASSEEV (RUS)
Sergey SARGSYAN (ARM) vs. Giorgi CHIKHRADZE (GEO)

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

Monday, January 19, 2026 - 10:21 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a trip down memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

WATCH ZAGREB OPEN 2025 TOP BOUTS HERE

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.