Ali Ashkani

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Ali Ashkani Aghbolagh (Persian: علی اشکانی آق بلاغ; born 16 November 1978) is an Iranian retired amateur Greco-Roman wrestler who competed in the men's lightweight category. As of 2020, he is the coach of Iranian Greco-Roman wrestling, . 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 in Budapest, Hungary, and represented Iran in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004), finishing fifth in Sydney 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 reached sporting headlines at the 2000 Asian Wrestling Championships 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 in Sydney as a dark horse in the men's featherweight category (58 kg). He dominated the field by thrashing Hungary's István Majoros (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 in South Korea, but lost to Kazakhstan's Nurlan Koizhaiganov in the quarterfinal match 4–1. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Ashkani qualified for his...