TEHRAN – Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestler Saeid Esmaeili from Iran won gold at the 2026 World Wrestling Championships Tuesday night.

The Paris Olympic champion completed a successful defense of his 67kg crown with a crushing victory by fall over Aytjan Khalmakhanov from Uzbekistan on Tuesday, giving Iran its fourth champion as the Greco-Roman competition wrapped up at the World Championships in Astana.

“This is the World Championships, which is different from other tournaments,” Esmaeili said. “It gets tougher year after year. My opponents study and analyze me, making it very difficult to win medals consistently, especially in the 67kg weight class, which is one of the most competitive in the world.”

In earlier finals, Semen Novikov from Bulgaria handed Iran a rare loss with a 4-0 victory over Alireza Mohmadi in a repeat of the 2024 Paris Olympics final, while Karen Aslanyan defeated Nihat Mammadli  (AZE) 8-4 at 63kg to become a first-time champion.