2022 Asian Championships Recap - Men's Freestyle
2022 Asian Championships Recap - Men's Freestyle
A recap of the biggest stories from the 2022 Asian Championships in men's freestyle.
The 2022 Asian Championships went down over the weekend featuring some of the best wrestlers in the world. Take a look below for a recap of the biggest stories in men's freestyle.
Iran Runs Away With Team Title
Iran dominated the Asian Championships taking home six gold medals from Rahman Amouzad (65kg), Younes Emami (74kg), Ali Savadkoui (79kg), Amir Firouzpour (92kg), Mohammad Mohammadian (97kg), and Yadollah Mohebi (125kg). With Russia currently banned from the World Championships, Iran will be USA’s main challenger for the team title and look to be worthy contenders.
From the above gold medalists, three stood out for Iran - Amouzad, Savadkoui, and Mohammadian. Amouzad, a 2021 junior world champion, represented Iran at the senior world championships in 2021 but failed to place going 1-1. Now up at 65kg, Amouzad looks to be one of the best in the world and took home gold after defeating Bajrang Punia in the finals, 3-1. Look for Amouzad to compete at the world championships this year and challenge for a world title.
Amouzad's scoring highlights from the Asian Championships:
At 79kg, Ali Savadkoui has emerged as a threat to Jordan Burroughs and every other 79kg wrestler in the world. In February at the Yasar Dogu, Savadkoui lost a close, 1-point match to Jordan Burroughs after giving up a caution point on a singlet pull with less than 30 seconds to go in the match. At the Asian Championships, Savadkoui won gold with three straight wins highlighted by an incredible 9-9 criteria win in the finals over India’s Baliyan Gourav. Check out scoring highlights from that match below:
American fans will remember Mohammad Mohammadian from his tech fall win over Bo Nickal and pin against Kyle Snyder from the Matteo Pellicone in January 2020. While Mohammadian failed to medal at the Olympics, he seems to be rounding back into form and recording 3 tech falls, outsourcing his opponents 31-0 en route to his gold medal performance at the Asian Championships. Check out his tech fall in the finals over Mongolia’s Batzul Ulziisaikhan:
Gilman’s Biggest Challenger - Ravi Kumar
Olympic silver medalist Ravi Kumar became India’s first-ever 3-time Asian Champ over the weekend when he secured a tech fall in the finals over Kazakhstan’s Rakhat Kalzhan. After his Olympic performance last year, Kumar chose not to compete at the world championships and, therefore, wasn’t in the bracket where Thomas Gilman won his world title. With Russia banned from this year's worlds, Ravi Kumar will be the biggest road block in the way of Gilman repeating as world champ.
Scoring highlights of Kumar's win over Kalzhan in the Asian Championship finals:
Two World Champ Contenders For Japan
Japan had two wrestlers win gold at the Asian Championships in Rei Higuchi (61kg) and Taishi Narikuni (70kg). Higuchi, an Olympic silver medalist at 57kg in 2016, was dominant in his run recording 4 tech falls and outsourcing his opponents 44-4. Higuchi might be the biggest threat to Daton Fix (or whoever comes out on top at 61kg) at the world championships with Russia banned. However, Higuchi will have to get through fellow countryman Ryuto Sakaki - Higuchi lost to Sakaki at Japan’s national tournament last December.
Higuchi’s win over Darioush Hazratgholi (IRI) in the finals of the Asian Championships:
Taishi Narikuni emerged as a legitimate threat to win a world title this year at 70kg with his win over 2021 world silver medalist in the finals, 3-3 on criteria. Along with the win over Akmataliev, Narikuni defeated Kazakhstan’s Syrbaz Talgat (2021 Asian champ, junior world bronze medalist) and Korea’s Yongseok Jeong. Narikuni will be a wrestler to continue to watch this freestyle season leading up to the world championships.
Scoring highlights of Narikuni's win over Akmataliev in the Asian Championship finals:
While the above are the main stories from the Asian Championships in men's freestyle, you can check out the full event hub here to watch full replays of every style from the 2022 Asian Championships.