Iran Tightens Its Greco Grip as Americans Leave Astana Day 4 Empty
Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi pinned his way to gold at 67kg while all three U.S. Greco-Roman entries left the day without a medal.
Iran keeps stacking
Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi Iran GR 67kg Greco-Roman gold
Nobody is catching Iran in Greco-Roman at this pace. Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi closed out the 67kg final with a fall over Uzbekistan's Aytjan Khalmakhanov, leading 8-0 when it ended.
- Karen Aslanyan, Armenia GR 63kg Greco-Roman gold
- Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi, Iran GR 67kg Greco-Roman gold
- Semen Novikov, Bulgaria GR 87kg Greco-Roman gold
Iran nearly added a second title at 87kg. Semen Novikov of Bulgaria had other plans, blanking Alireza Mohmadipiani 4-0 to take gold and leave the Iranian with silver.
The 63kg crown went to Armenia. Karen Aslanyan controlled Nihat Mammadli of Azerbaijan 8-4 in the final.
A rough day for the Americans
Otto Black showed the most fight of the U.S. group at 67kg. He lost 1-12 to finalist Khalmakhanov in qualification, then in repechage beat Australia's Tsuchika Shimoyamada 9-0 by technical superiority and fell 4-7 to Cuba's Luis Orta Sanchez.
Xavier Johnson never got to finish a match on his own terms at 63kg. He dropped his qualification bout to silver medalist Mammadli by injury default and his repechage bout against Norway's Morten Thoresen the same way.
Beka Melelashvili's stay at 87kg was brief. Croatia's Ivan Huklek pinned him in the 1/16 final with the score at 3-6.
The team race
Iran has 192 points, far clear of Azerbaijan at 104 and Uzbekistan at 80. Belarus and Kazakhstan are deadlocked for fourth with 63 apiece.
Iran's Greco lead looks out of reach, and the Americans need a breakthrough fast.