TEHRAN – Iranian freestyle wrestler Yones Emami, competing in the 74kg weight class, spoke about the difficulty of the competition, the high level of his opponents and his determination to win gold after claiming the title at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya.
Emami, who also won gold at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, secured his second consecutive Asian Games title with another impressive performance.
“Everything went well and I was able to win the gold medal. I’m happy that I can return home with a gold medal, and I hope I have not disappointed my family, the federation or my dear people. It was really difficult, and few people thought I could win the gold medal, but thankfully I was able to achieve this success.”
“The level of the competition was really high. There were world champions and many highly regarded wrestlers in my weight class, and I faced all of them. I managed to defeat my opponents and win the gold medal.”
The Iranian champion also reflected on his victory over Olympic champion Razambek Zhamalov, a match that many observers had expected to be particularly challenging.
“The reality was that many people did not think I could beat Zhamalov. Even before the competition, some people were worried that I might have problems in the early rounds. But, I was able to manage the competition well from the very beginning and eventually win the gold medal.”
Emami also admitted that winning two consecutive Asian Games gold medals was not something he had previously imagined.
Asked about the feeling of winning his second Asian Games gold after his triumph in Hangzhou, he said: “I honestly hadn’t thought about winning two Asian Games gold medals. My entire focus was on these competitions in Nagoya. I wanted to be in the best possible condition, wrestle my best matches and ultimately win the gold medal.”
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