Jakarta Asian Games will open in five days and Iran’s wrestling teams are on the nation’s radar to win medals and reconfirm Iran as the best in the field in the ancient continent.
In the previous round of the Asian Games, freestyle and Greco-Roman teams bagged six gold medals, which was a quarter of all the gold Iran collected in the games. The wrestlers also won one silver and five bronze medals meaning Iran took 12 medals in 14 weight classes.
For this year's event, slated for August 18-September 2, the organizers of the games decided to reduce the number of weight classes to six for each wrestling division, so each participating nation can send at the most 12 wrestlers.
Freestylers are men of experience with world champion from Iran Hassan Yazdani among them, while the Greco-Roman team has young wrestlers in its ranks.
In the lightest weight class, Reza Atri, 57kg, represents Iran. The young wrestler has not been in international games but his performance in the team trials put him atop others.
Despite participating in Asian and world event, the 65kg Mehran Nassiri has not won any title but his experience plus high motivation in trial games won him a ticket to the Asian Games.
The bronze winner of the world championships Mostafa Khani will compete in the 74kg class to prove his mettle one more time.
In the 86kg class it is Hassan Yazdani who is the focus of attention. World and Olympics champion Yazdani will experience the continental games for the first time but has proven that his abilities are far beyond the continent as he grabbed the gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics when he was 21.
In the 97kg class, Alireza Karimi will have a tough job as he shifted from 86kg to 97kg recently and the games will be a test for the two-time gold winner in Asian championships.
In search of the second gold of the Asian Games, Parviz Hadi in the 125kg is in Indonesia. Experience plus power should be instrumental in getting him gold.
Greco-Roman Wrestlers
In the Greco-Roman roster fresh blood can be seen with the majority of wrestlers having entered the squad from junior teams.
Mehrad Mardani in 60kg is making his debut at the international level. Experts in the field believe the talented wrestler can be an heir to Hamid Sourian who won six world championship gold medals as well as the gold in the 2012 London Olympics. Sourian is the most decorated wrestler in the history of Iranian wrestling.
Surprise of the team is the appearance of two brothers in the 67kg and 77kg classes. The Geraei brothers have secured two berths. In 67kg, Mohammad-Reza Geraei won the title of the trial games but has not been in any foreign competitions. Mohammad-Ali in the 77kg has won gold in world events. Named “Falcon” by the United World Wrestling, he is known for his thunder attacks.
Twice Asian championships gold winner Hossein Nouri is a highly potential gold winner and Ali Akbar Heidari of 97kg is another newcomer, short of experience but full of potential.
AIMAG gold winner in 2017 and three-time Asian champion Behnam Mehdizadeh in the 130kg class is probably the most experienced member of the team.
Freestyle and Greco-Roman teams will arrive in Indonesia on August 16 and 18 respectively. With wrestling matches to start on August 19, the team hopes to make the nation happy with the first gold medals.
The stage is set for the 2018 Asian Games as athletes from the continent are gearing up for the quadrennial sporting spectacle.
An estimated 11,300 athletes from 45 National Olympic Committees will compete in the games. The athletes will compete in 465 events across 40 sports and 67 disciplines.
The opening ceremony on August 18 will be held at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta with a 76,000 seating capacity.
