Iran men’s freestyle team announced for Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup in Coralville, Iowa, December 10-11

Kamran Ghasempour (Iran) with the Iranian flag. Photo by Martin Gabor, United World Wrestling


The lineups for Iran, which will compete in men’s freestyle at the Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup, has been released.


The Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup will be held at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, Dec. 10-11. It is the first time that men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle will be held together side-by-side at the World Cup.


The World Cup is the annual international dual meet championships, conducted by United World Wrestling. The top five teams in men’s freestyle and the top five teams in women’s freestyle from the 2022 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in September have confirmed their participation. There is also an All World Team in each discipline, featuring the top available athlete from the World Championships in each weight class that were not from a nation which qualified for the World Cup.


The Iran World Cup team will feature five Senior World medalists, as well as seven others who have won World medals at the age-group levels.


The team is led by two-time World champion Kamran Ghasempour at 97 kg. Ghasempour won his World titles in 2021 and 2022, and also has won U23 World titles in 2018 and 2019.


2022 World champion Rahman Amouzadhalili will wrestle at 65 kg. He has also won three age-group World titles, with a U20 title in 2021 and U17 World titles in 2018 and 2019.


Three-time World medalist Alireza Karimimachiani is competing at 86 kg. Karimimachiani won a 2019 World silver medal, as well as claiming World bronze medals in 2015 and 2018. He was also a 2017 U17 World bronze medalist.


Two-time World silver medalist Mohammad Nokhodarimi will wrestle at 79 kg. Nokhoidarimi lost in the 2021 and 2022 World finals to Jordan Burroughs of the USA. He was also a 2019 U20 World silver medalist and 2017 U17 World bronze medalist.


The other Senior World medalist on the roster is 2021 World silver medalist Amirmohammad Yazdanicherati at 70 kg. He was also a 2015 U17 World silver medalist.


Other athletes on the Iran roster who have won age-group World medals include Armin Mehdi Habibzadehsaroukolaei (61 kg), Aliakbar Fazlikhalili (70 kg), Mohmmadsadegh Firouzpourbandpei (74 kg), Ali Bakhtiar Savadkouhi (79 kg), Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (92 kg), Amirali Azarpira (97 kg) and Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (125 kg).


Iran, which placed second at the 2022 World Championships in men’s freestyle, will be joined in the World Cup by first place United States, third place Japan, fourth place Mongolia and fifth place Georgia, in addition to the All World Team.


The rosters of the World Cup teams for the other nations have now all been announced by USA Wrestling.


Ticket packages for the 2022 Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup are currently on sale. The seating capacity for Xtream Arena for the World Cup will be approximately 5,300. Ticket packages include a Gold package for $275, Silver package for $200 and All-Session tickets for $90.


A special Presentation of Teams and Team USA Meet & Greet will also be held on Friday, December 9 at 6:45 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup tickets

Iran Men’s Freestyle World Cup team

57 kg – Reza Hossein Momenijoujadeh

61 kg – Armin Mehdi Habibzadehsaroukolaei

65 kg – Rahman Mousa Amouzadhalili

65 kg – Mohammadreza Bagheriheidarabadi

70 kg – Aliakbar Fazlikhalili

70 kg – Amirmohammad Yazdanicherati

74 kg – Mohmmadsadegh Firouzpourbandpei

79 kg – Mohammad Nokhodarimi

79 kg – Ali Bakhtiar Savadkouhi

86 kg – Alireza Mohammad Karimimachiani

92 kg – Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei

97 kg – Kamran Ghasempour

97 kg – Amirali Azarpira

125 kg – Amirreza Masoumi Valadi