TEHRAN – Iranian freestyler Hassan Yazdani says that he is looking forward to win his third gold at the World Championships in Serbia.

The 2020 World Wrestling Championships are set to go ahead as planned from 12-20 December in Belgrade, Serbia.

“I am just thinking about winning a gold at the World Championships. I will do my best in Belgrade to win my third gold in the competition,” Yazdani said in an interview with Iran Wrestling Federation’s website.

Yazdani claimed a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in Paris after defeating Slovakian Boris Makojev at the 86kg final. Two years later he accumulated his second gold by beating his Indian rival Deepak Punia in Nur-Sultan.

“The wrestling was forced to shut down for seven months in our country due to COVID-19 pandemic but I’m feeling good physically since I’ve trained individually to be fit,” he added.

“At the moment, we are holding our training camp at the federation with stringent health protocols due to a coronavirus outbreak and nobody is allowed to leave the camp,” he added.

Yazdani also is a candidate to win a gold medal at 2020 Tokyo after his first gold in 2016 Rio, where he defeated Russian Aniuar Geduev at the 74kg weight category final.