TEHRAN - Iran's Olympic gold medal favorite Hamid Soryan lost in the Greco-Roman 55kg quarter-final to Russia's Nazyr Mankiev on Tuesday.
Soryan has dominated the category over the past three years winning three consecutive world titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and two Asian championship gold medals, but lost 3-1 on classification points after he tied 4-4 on technical points with Mankiev. The 23-year-old Iranian wrestler defeated his rivals from Bulgaria and Palau in his first two encounters and must now fight for the bronze medal. In the 60kg category, two-times Olympic champion Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria narrowly fought past Japan's Makoto Sasamoto to make the quarter-finals where he will face Vitaliy Rahimov of Azerbaijan. Georgia's David Bedinadze, one of the strongest in the category, lost to Nazarian in qualifying but could still pick up a bronze medal through the repechage.
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