Iran’s Mirzazadeh Determined to Beat Kayaalp in Alexandria: UWW
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Amin Mirzazadeh has watched his World Championships final against Riza Kayaalp numerous times in the last five months to understand what he could have done differently to change the result.
The 1-1 victory for Kayaalp gave the Turkish legend his fifth world title, denying Mirzazadeh his first. But there were moments in the final that Mirzazadeh rues, a few that proved to be detrimental.
“I watched that final again,” Mirzazadeh told UWW.org. “There were some problems. I know that.”
Iran will send four Greco-Roman wrestlers to the Ibrahim Moustafa tournament in Egypt.
Mirzazadeh will be at 130kg while Mohammadhadi Saravi will wrestle at 97kg. Olympic champion Mohammaed Reza Geraei is registered at 72kg while Meysam Dalkhani is wrestling at 63kg.
Mirzazadeh, a native of Khuzestan, is visibly smaller than Kayaalp which has hampered his quest to beat the latter. But over time, the Iranian believes that he has improved his strength and size which can help him beat Kayaalp in near future.
“The Turkish wrestler is experienced,” Mirzazadeh said. “But I will use my power as I am younger.”
In Belgrade, late in the final, Mirzazadeh managed to put Kayaapl in a tricky position and could have scored a go behind or a stepout. However, it was the strength of Kayaalp that prevented that from happening.
Another huge shortcoming for Mirzazadeh is his failure to score from par terre against Kayaalp. It is one of the reasons that despite getting the advantage for the third passivity, he asked Kayaalp to resume in standing and not par terre in the Belgrade bout.
“In the previous bouts, I was underweight,” he said. “But now I have increased my weight and strength to a great extent, and I will definitely look more powerful in my next match.”
The two have met twice before in their careers and a positive, if any, for Mirzazadeh is the improvement in his defense. At the Tokyo Olympics, Kayaalp managed to turn Mirzazadeh from par terre while the same did not happen at the Belgrade World Championships.
With the growing years, it may well be true that Mirzazadeh's physical strength increased while Kayaalp's conditioning takes a hit with age.
“We have the plans,” the 25-year-old said. “We have been working in the off-season with my coach Sina Talebvand and now at the national camp in Tehran.”
“I will do my best to improve in terms of physical and technical preparation,” he said. “My goal is to reach my best state and to be able to win the gold medal in the 2023 World Championship and after that in the 2024 Olympics.”
The Ibrahim Moustafa tournament will be the second Ranking Series event this year slated for February 23-26 in Alexandria, Egypt.