The 19-year-old Hasrat Jafarov stunned the field at 67kg weight class at the U23 World Wrestling Championships, adding to his junior world title which he won in August in Ufa, Russia.
The Azerbaijan wrestler continues to improve at a rapid pace. That was visible in Belgrade, Serbia, where he defeated Asian champion Sultan Assetuly from Kazakhstan, U23 European silver Kadir Kamal from Turkey and junior Asian champion Mohammad Rezaei from Iran en route the gold.
“I am glad that I became a world champion for the second time,” Jafarov said. “I’ll train even better to achieve good results in the senior age group.”
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Russia won the Greco-Roman team title, thanks to the two gold medals on Wednesday, which propelled them to 190 points. Iran finished second with 155 points, while Georgia ended up on the podium in third place with 105 points.
Jafarov, who turned 19-years-old on October 5, outscored Rezaei by scoring the match deciding two-point correct throw in the second period and holding onto the one-point win.
But even with his loss in the 67kg, Rezaei’s 20-point second-place finish helped Iran (135 points) regain the five-point lead over Russia (130 points) after the night’s first two weight classes.
Despite his win, the Azerbaijan youngster, who hails from a small village of Goranboy district, realized that moving forward, his opponents will study him more and find new ways to stop him from winning.
“Each medal brings more responsibility,” he said. “My opponents know my par terre techniques, my standing position wrestling style. I will try to improve in the future so that it’s not that tough for me to win.”
Source and image: www.uww.org
