BANGKOK (February 17) – Doszhan KARTIKOV (KAZ) had to defeat two world champions to earn a bronze medal at the world championships in September, but on Wednesday he overcame a recent knee surgery and two-month layoff to add Asian champion to his growing Greco-Roman resume.

Kartikov forged a 6-4 win in the semifinals against fellow Asian Games bronze medalist Payam BOUYERI PAYANI (IRI) at Bangkok Youth Center and then used a drag to go-behind combination in a 4-0 win over Dilshod TURDIEV (UZB) in the 75kg final.

“I feel pretty good about the win,” Kartishov said of his triumph on the opening day of the Asian Wrestling Championships. “Especially since I’ve only had a month to train after knee surgery three months ago.”

“Now I can look forward to the World Cup and, of course, the Olympic Games,” said Kartikov, who stunned Greco-Roman fans with wins over world champs KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) and Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM) in Las Vegas last year.

And, with those victories and his first continental crown, the 26-year-old physical education student may well be one of the favorites at Rio 2016 come August. 

Meanwhile, Iranian wrestlers rallied for five medals in Wednesday’s evening session, including gold medals in the final three championship bouts of the first evening of competition.

Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI), the champ at 71kg one year ago, got rolling in the second period against Aishan AISHAN (CHN) and assigned last year’s runner-up to another silver medal at 80kg with a pair of lifts from par terre for a technical fall.

At 98kg, defending continental and Asian Games champion Mahdi ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI) pinned Hardeep HARDEEP (IND) from the reverse waistlock lift-and-throw, while Amir GHASEMI MONJAZI (IRI) triumphed in the evening’s finale at 130kg with a fall over former Asian bronze medal winner Murat RAMONOV (KGZ).

In addition to the three gold medals, Mehdi ZEIDVAND (66kg) and Bouyeri Payani rebounded from earlier losses for bronze medals at their respective weight categories.

In the evening’s first gold medal match, CHOI Giuk (KOR) scored a late step-out point against Askhat ZANBIROV (KAZ) for a 1-1 win on last-point criteria.

Also, former African champion for Egypt Mohamed Abdelfattah MOHAMED (BRN) pinned 2014 junior world runner-up KIM Seungjun (KOR) in a bronze medal final at 98kg for his first medal wrestling for Olympic Council of Asia member Bahrain.

Greco-Roman

66kg (12 entries)
Gold – CHOI Giuk (KOR) df. Askhat ZHANBIROV (KAZ), 1-1=last point
Bronze – Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) df. JON Won-Chol (PRK), 8-6
Bronze – Mehdi ZEIDVAND (IRI) df. ZHANG Gaoquan (CHN), 5-2

75kg (14 entries)
Gold – Doszhan KARTIKOV (KAZ) df. Dilshod TURDIEV (UZB), 4-0
Bronze – Payam BOUYERI PAYANI (IRI) df. Shermet PERMANOV (TKM) by TF, 8-0, 1:01
Bronze – Ruslan TSAREV (KGZ) df. Bakhit Sharif BADR (QAT) by TF, 8-0, 2:11

80kg (10 entries)
Gold – Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI) df. Aishan AISHAN (CHN) by TF, 8-0, 4:24
Bronze – Singh HARPREET (IND) df. Jonibek OTABEKOV (UZB), 2-1
Bronze – Ashkhat DILMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ) df. NGHIEM Dinh Hieu (VIE) by TF, 8-0, 0:31

98kg (12 entries)
Gold – Mahdi ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI) df. Hardeep HARDEEP (IND) by Fall, 1:57 (7-0)
Bronze – Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) df. Ali Majeed Hameed AL KAABI (IRQ), 6-5
Bronze – Mohamed Abdelfattah MOHAMED (BRN) df. KIM Seungjun (KOR) by Fall, 4:40 (5-4)

130kg (10 entries)
Gold – Amir GHASEMIMONJAZI (IRI) df. Murat RAMONOV (KGZ) by Fall, 2:16 (2-0)
Bronze – Naveen NAVEEN (IND) df. SUN He (CHN), 6-4
Bronze – Damir KUZEMBAYEV (KAZ) df. Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) by TF, 9-1, 1:55