Mirzazadeh Aims to Win Second World Title: UWW

Mirzazadeh was preparing for the Senior World Championships last month when he contracted the COVID-19 virus and had to withdraw from Iran's Greco-Roman team.

A month after the senior team won second place in the team title race in Oslo, Iran, led by Tokyo Olympian Mirzazadeh, will look to replicate and even improve that position at the U-23 World Championships which begin November 1 in Belgrade, Serbia, UWW reported.

Mirzazadeh finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics after losing to Riza Kayaalp (TUR) in the bronze medal bout. Still, the former senior Asian champion at 130kg would like to win his second world title after winning the junior worlds 2019. In his only outing at the U-23 level, he finished fifth at the 2017 World Championships.

However, there is no certainty for Mirzazadeh as the Russian Wrestling Federation is bringing a loaded roster to Belgrade. First, he could face Mikhail Laptev (RWF) who won the U-23 European title in May. Laptev has been on the heels of Sergei Semenov (RWF) in the Greco-Roman team.

Another name that Mirzazadeh has to look out for is David Ovasapyan (ARM). The Iranian wrestled him for the 2018 junior world gold and won that bout. But the Armenian made it to the final of the U-23 Euros earlier this year.

A rematch of that final from May is well on the cards as Ovasapyan wrestled Laptev but lost 5-1. The two revenge matches will headline the weight class which goes into action on the first day of the competition along with 55kg, 63kg, 77kg and 87kg.