He won a gold medal at the U-20 World Wrestling Championships 2023 Saturday night after beating Wenhao Jiang of China 8-0 in 130kg.
“I wrestled with Jiang in the finals of the U-20 Asian Championships and won 11-1,” Hedayati said. “I was able to defeat him in less than three minutes with a score of 8-0. Jiang is a good wrestler as well.”
Back home in Iran, the 130kg weight class is dominated by world silver medalist Amin Mirzazadeh but Hedayati is open for a go at all wrestlers.
“I have very good opponents in Iran including Amin Mirzazadeh and other dear friends,” he said.
“I respect all of them. I’m doing my best to be a good representative for my country in the 2024 Olympics. I want to become a champion in Paris and having good opponents motivates me to increase my training and be able to pass these champions and reach the top of an Olympics,” Hedayati concluded.