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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)

#UWWAwards

UWW Most Dominant Wrestlers 2025: Amouzad, Motoki, Esmaeili

Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 11:08 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 24) -- There were several dominant performances in 2025 on the wrestling mat. But it was three wrestlers who remained at the top of their weight classes and racked up dominant wins one after another. Two were Olympic champions while one was an Olympic silver medalist. All three became world champions in Zagreb.

Freestyle Most Dominant Wrester: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)

- 14–0
- Rank 1 at 65kg 
- 58,000 RS points 
- Outscored world and Olympic medalists 42–4
- World Championships, Tirana RS and ISG golds

Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) was about as perfect as you could be in a season, returning to prominence with title-winning efforts at the World Championships, Islamic Solidarity Games and Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event and finishing the season as the No.1 ranked wrestler in the world at 65kg with 58,000 Ranking Series points.

The Paris silver medalist, collected an unblemished 14-0 record in 2025 -- with five of those wins coming against top-level opponents who have world or Olympic medals on their resumes in Olympic champion Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), Umidjon JALALOV (UZB), Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and Real WOODS (USA). The craziest part about those five matches against the world’s best, Amouzad outscored 42-4.

But without a doubt, the highlight of Amouzad’s season came in Zagreb when he finally got his long awaited rematch, beating Kotaro KIYOOKA in a revenge match from the Paris 2024 Olympic finals.

The scariest part about Amouzad’s dominance -- he’s only 23 years old and he’s still getting better.

Women's Wrestling Dominant Wrestler: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)

- 9-0
- Five pins, two technical superiorities
- 45,000 RS points 
- 8/9 bouts finished before regulation
- Completed Golden Grand Slam (U17, U20, U23, Senior World and Olympic gold)

Coming into the 2025 season, Motoki made her goals crystal clear -- become the third wrestler in history of the sport to win wrestling’s Golden Grand Slam -- and for those who don’t know, that is gold medals at the U17, U20, U23, Senior World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The only two missing from the Olympic champ's resume were the U23 and Senior World golds.

At the 2025 U23 and senior World Championships, Motoki showed that she’s in a league of her own, as she went 9-0, with eight  matches finishing before time expired. She scored five falls and two technical superiority wins.

Her win in the final of the World Championships will be one that will be talked about for ages as the most dramatic win of the season. Motoki scored a buzzer-beating takedown against Ok Ju KIM (PRK) with a 10-second flurry that consisted of a head outside single, arm throw, over-under knee pick, before head locking Kim with four tenths of a second left to keep her history making hopes alive.

In the end, Motoki’s heart and courage under fire helped her close out the year as the third wrestler to complete the Golden Grand Slam and she did it with a level of dominance we may not see again for a very long time.

Greco-Roman Dominant Wrestler: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)

- Rank 1 at 67kg 
- 58,000 RS points  
- 11–0 Record
- World Championships, Asian Championships and  ISG golds

In a 2025 campaign that saw him become a world champion, Esmaeili's season was immaculate, as he cemented his place among the sport’s top pound-for-pound wrestler with a season full of titles, stacking gold-medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships and Islamic Solidarity Games, rounding out the season ranked No. 1 in the world at 67kg.

The Paris Olympic champion remained unbeaten in 2025, winning all 11 bouts of his bouts in dominant fashion -- scoring eight shutout wins, with seven technical falls -- including a pair of 9-0 win against world champions Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) and Sebastian NAD (SRB). The reigning Olympic gold medalist also collected two victories over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), one in the world final and one in the Islamic Game gold-medal match, where he tossed his Azeri opponent for four as time expired to rob his rival of the title.

His opponents should not ease up because at just 22 years old, Esmaeili is still sharpening his tool set and leveling up his skills.