By Ken Marantz
OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, September 30, 2026: Just trying to move Iran’s Amin Mirzazadeh can be as challenging as attempting to budge Nagoya Castle. And it’s hardly easier to knock him off one of the many thrones he currently sits upon.
Mirzazadeh successfully defended his Asian Games gold in Greco-Roman wrestling, defeating Uzbekistan’s Rafael Tsitsuashvili 3-1 in the 130kg final on the opening night of wrestling on Wednesday at Inae Sports Center.
“It’s important for me because it is the second time and I’m so happy to get the gold medal,” Mirzazadeh said.
In the two other Greco finals, rising star Taizo Yoshida struck gold in his first major senior outing since moving up to 87kg, while Uzbekistan’s Aytjan Khalmakhanov denied the host country a victory at 67kg.
Mirzazadeh continued to reign surpreme as the world’s premier heavyweight with a workmanlike effort over Tsitsuashvili, gaining a 2-point roll from par terre in the first period, then hardly being budged when put in the bottom position in the second.
While not overly dominant, Mirzazadeh was never really challenged and did enough to ensure victory, saying he just stuck to the plan drawn up by his coaches.
“We had a good program for the final, and I did that,” Mirzazadeh said.
His closest encounter came in the semifinals, when he defeated China’s Meng Lingzhe 1-1 by earning the first passivity point.
“He’s an Olympic medalist and always he’s the same level, always trying to be the best,” Mirzazadeh said of Meng.
Mirzazadeh, the reigning world and Asian champion, has not lost since falling 3-1 in the quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics to Cuba’s Mijain Lopez, who went on to become the first male ever to win gold medals in the same event in five straight Olympics.
The 28-year-old Mirzazadeh and Meng took home the bronzes from Paris, which the Iranian added to a collection that also includes four Asian titles and three world silver medals.
The bronze medals on Wednesday were won by Meng, who earned his second career Asian Games medal after a silver in 2023, and Korea’s Kim Minseok.
At 87kg, Yoshida, the 2025 world silver medalist and 2024 Asian champion at 82kg, broke open a close match with Kygryzstan’s Asan Zhanyshov with a rush of big-point moves in the second period to win 11-1.
“Looking up in the stands and seeing so many familiar faces, I was really happy,” the 20-year-old Yoshida said. “It’s the happiest feeling of my life.”
Yoshida, leading 2-1 going into the second period, used a front body roll for 2 points, then a bear hug to the back that, with a point tacked on for an unsuccessful challenge, gave the Japanese a 7-1 lead.
Yoshida then ended the match at 4:21 by driving Zhanyshov straight to his back for 4 points after the two butted heads, which left the Japanese with a gash over his left eye that had to be treated before he began his victory celebration.
“I got butted, but despite how it looks, I didn’t feel a thing,” Yoshida said with a smile. “My feeling was more of relief.”
Zhanyshov overcame a tough test in his opening match of the day when he had to grind out a 4-0 quarterfinal win over Uzbekistan’s reigning Asian Games champion Jalgasbay Berdimuratov.
Berdimuratov, a two-time Asian champion and world medalist, assured he would not leave Nagoya empty-handed by defeating Kazakhstan’s Shamil Ozhaev by 9-1 technical superiority in their bronze-medal match. India’s Sunil Kumar claimed the other bronze.
At 67kg, Uzbekistan’s Khalmakhanov scored with an early 2-point arm throw and held on for a 3-2 victory over Japan’s Kyotaro Sogabe.
Khalmakhanov, the world and Asian champion in 2025 at 63kg who moved up to 67kg this year, earned a passivity point after his opening score, and then twice appeared to score points with throws, but only 2 were awarded.
The Uzbekistan side challenged, but instead of being awarded more, the 2 were taken off the board – ironically, he “won” the challenge by losing points.
That left the score 3-0 before 2023 Asian silver medalist Sogabe scored a stepout before the break, but he failed to turn Khalmakhanov during his chance in par terre in the second period, leaving him on the short side of the 3-2 score.
The final was a rematch of their clash at the Zagreb Ranking Series tournament in February, when Khalmakhanov topped Sogabe 11-5 in the semifinals en route to the title. The Uzbek added the Asian U23 title two months later.
In the semifinals in the morning session, Khalmakhanov advanced with a 5-0 victory over reigning Asian champion Razzak Beishekeev of Kyrgyzstan.
Beishekeev came back to take his second straight Asian Games bronze medal with a 5-1 win over China’s Leng Ji. Meiirzhan Shermakhanbet of Kazakhstan, the silver medalist three years ago in Hangzhou, won the other bronze.