TEHRAN (Iran News) – A total of six medals – including three golds – saw Iran’s GR team claim the top spot at the 2019 World U23 Wrestling Championships in Budapest, capital of Hungary.

On Sunday, Mohammad-Reza Geraei routed Azerbaijan’s Sanan Suleymanov 7-0 in the men’s 72kg final.

Valentin Petic of Moldova and Ukrainian Maksym Yevtushenko – beaten by Geraei in the semifinal – shared the third spot.

Geraei’s triumph marked Iran’s third gold of the competitions as Meysam Dalkhani and Ali-Akbar Yousefi had bagged a couple of golds on a preceding night.

Dalkhani beat Georgian Levani Kavjaradze 7-6 to claim the 63kg gold while Yousefi was handed the 130kg gold after defending champion Zviadi Pataridze had to pull out of the final bout with a foot injury.

Additionally, Mehdi Mohsennejad, Sajjad Imantalab, and Mohammad-Hadi Saravi added three bronzes to Iran’s account.

Mohsennejad bounced back from a quarterfinal defeat against Armen Melikyan of Armenia – who eventually won the gold – and beat the host’s Krisztian Kecskemeti 9-5 for a joint-third spot finish in the 60kg weight class – alongside Russain Artur Petrosian.

Imantalab, having suffered a second-round defeat against Aliaksandr Liavonchyk of Belarus, also beat Bulgarian Deyvid Dimitrov for the 67kg bronze.

Saravi, meanwhile, beat Ukraine’s Vladlen Kozliuk by a fall for the 97kg joint-bronze after a 5-1 defeat against the eventual gold medalist Arvi Savolainen of Finland in the quarters.

Iran collected 122 points for a first-place finish in the overall standings, followed by Georgia and Russia, which finished on 121 and 118 points respectively.

Freestyle runner-up for Iran’s GR Team

Iran’s Greco-Roman triumph came after the Iran’s freestyle team had finished second in the competitions last Wednesday.

A glittering campaign saw Iran collect six medals – three golds – and 139 points to stand behind Russia – which tallied 145 points.

Following Russia and Iran, Azerbaijan finished with 111pts.

Kamran Qasempour (86kg), Mojtaba Goleij (97kg) and Amirhossein Zare (125kg) bagged three gold medals while Mohammad Nokhodi had to settle for a silver after suffering a defeat in the 74kg final against Russia’s Razambek Zhamalov.

Alireza Sarlak (57kg) and Hossein Shahbazi (92kg), meanwhile, grabbed two bronzes for the country.

The third edition of the U23 champs took place in the Hungarian capital on October 28 – November 3.