Emami beats World champ Aoyagi 9-5 for Asian Games 74kg gold
Iran's 74kg man went through an Olympic champion and two World champions in one day.
Yones Emami won Asian Games freestyle gold at 74kg, beating Japan's World champion Yoshinosuke Aoyagi 9-5 in the final, per United World Wrestling.
The run to get there is the story. GlobalWrestOrder reported that Emami took out Olympic champion Zhamalov and World champion Kaipanov before the final, calling it a "GOAT-tier run" from a wrestler who owns a World bronze. The same account listed the final score as 8-5, while UWW's medal bout results posted it as 9-5.
Aoyagi had looked untouchable up to that point. In the semifinals he hit a 10-0 tech in under a minute over U23 World finalist Orozobek Toktomambetov, his second straight tech of that kind, and GlobalWrestOrder had already called him the clear No. 1 in the world at the weight.
The rest of the 74kg podium
Kaipanov picked up bronze with a fall over India's Sagar Jaglan. The other bronze went to Tajikistan's Viktor Rassadin, who edged Toktomambetov 4-3.
For Iran, it is a second freestyle gold worth noting from this tournament alongside Nokhodi's 86kg win over Japan's Ishiguro. For 74kg at large, the top of the weight just got scrambled again, with the reigning World champion beaten in a bracket that also contained an Olympic champion and another World champion.
Nobody has offered an explanation for why Aoyagi, who had been teching opponents inside a minute, suddenly found himself in a scoring race he could not win.
Our take: a bracket with Zhamalov, Kaipanov and Aoyagi in it was a de facto World final at 74kg, and Emami beat all three on the same day.
We have a CLEAR favorite and #1 wrestler in the world at 74kg - World Champion馃Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) is just destroying everyone, and making it look too easy
Emami just went on a GOAT-tier run, taking out Olympic Champion馃Zhamalov, World Champion馃Kaipanov