Ali Ashkani Aghbolagh ( fa, علی اشکانی آق بلاغ; born November 16, 1978) is a retired amateur Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler and currently coach of Iranian Greco-Roman wrestling, who competed in the men's lightweight category. He won four Asian Championship medals (three golds and one silver), picked up a silver in the 60-kg division at the

2005 World Wrestling Championships The 2005 World Wrestling Championships were held at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by ...

Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

, and represented Iran in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004), finishing fifth in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and eleventh in Athens respectively. Throughout his sporting career, Ashkani trained full-time for Takhti Wrestling Club in Ardabil under his coach and mentor jafar Damirchi.

Ashkani Askani (also known as ''Ashkani'') is a Baloch tribe from Balochistan known as Baloch. They are also found in Balochistan, Pakistan. People * Akbar Askani *Liaquat Ali Askani Name The Ferdowsi poem says that the army of Ashkash was from the wan ...

reached sporting headlines at the

2000 Asian Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2000 Asian Wrestling Championships Asian Wrestling Championships is the Wrestling Asian Championship organized by the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC). The men's tournament began in 1979 and Th ...

in Seoul, South Korea, where he won his first title in the 58-kg division over Uzbekistan's Dilshod Aripov. A few months later, Ashkani entered the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

as a dark horse in the men's featherweight category (58 kg). He dominated the field by thrashing Hungary's

István Majoros István Majoros (born 11 July 1974) is a Hungarian wrestler and Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling. Career Majoros competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens where he received a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, the ''bant ...

(1–5) and Georgia's Koba Guliashvili in the prelim pool to secure his place in the next round of the tournament. Ashkani lost the quarterfinal match to eventual silver medalist Kim In-Sub of South Korea with a powerful 3–1 decision, but bounced back to turn down U.S. wrestler Jim Gruenwald on the mat 3–2 for a fifth-place finish. After his first Olympics, Ashkani proved particularly successful in his career with two more medals in both 58 and 60-kg division at the Asian Championships (2001 and 2003). Determined to return to the wrestling scene and medal, Ashkani emerged himself as a top medal favorite at the

2002 Asian Games The 2002 Asian Games ( ko, 2002년 아시아 경기대회/2002년 아시안 게임, Icheoni-nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheoni-nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the XIV Asian Games ( ko, 제14회 아시아 경기대회/제14회 아시안 � ...

in South Korea, but lost to Kazakhstan's

Nurlan Koizhaiganov Nurlan Altynbekovich Koizhaiganov ( kz, Нұрлан Алтынбекұлы Қойжайғанов, ''Nūrlan Altynbekūly Qoijaiğanov''; born March 27, 1977, in Ayagoz) is a retired amateur Kazakh Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men' ...

in the quarterfinal match 4–1. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, Ashkani qualified for his second Iranian squad, as a 25-year-old, in the men's 60 kg class. Earlier in the process, he finished third at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to guarantee his spot on the Iranian wrestling team. Ashkani lost two opening matches each to Cuba's

Roberto Monzón Roberto Monzón González (born 30 March 1978) is a Cuban wrestler who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was born in Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. ...

(1–4) and Turkey's

Şeref Tüfenk Şeref Tüfenk (born September 22, 1983, in Rize) is a Turkish amateur Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed for the men's middleweight category. He is a two-time Olympian and a silver medalist for the 74 kg division at the 2008 European Wrestli ...

(1–3), but stunned the home crowd to tame Greek wrestler Christos Gikas with a 1–6 verdict at the end of the prelim pool. Unlike his previous Games, Ashkani's performance was not enough to advance him to the quarterfinals, placing eleventh in the final standings. In 2005, Ashkani recovered from an Olympic setback to flourish his wrestling career with two more medals. He reaped the men's 60-kg title over South Korea's Kim Keum-Hae at the Summer Universiade in Izmir, Turkey, and then picked up a silver medal from the World Championships in

, losing out to defending titleholder

Armen Nazaryan Armen Nazaryan ( hy, Արմեն Նազարյան, bg, Армен Назарян, born 9 March 1974) is an Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler who later represented Bulgaria. Nazaryan is a two-time Olympic Champion (1996, 2000), a three-time World C ...

of Bulgaria due to a three-caution violation by the referee.

References

External links

Profile – International Wrestling Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashkani, Ali 1978 births Sportspeople from Ardabil Living people Olympic wrestlers for Iran Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Iranian male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1998 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 2002 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 2006 Asian Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Summer World University Games medalists in wrestling FISU World University Games gold medalists for Iran Asian Games competitors for Iran Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade