# Ali Shabani

Ali Shabanibengar (Persian: علی شعبانی بنگر, born 18 May 1995) is an Iranian freestyle wrestler who competes at 97 kilograms. Shabani has claimed the 2021 Asian Continental Championship as well as a bronze medal from the 2018 U23 World Championships. He was also the World Championship representative for Iran in 2019 and is a two–time IRI World Team Member.

## Career
### 2018–2019

After winning the U23 Iranian World Team Trials, Shabani made his international debut at the 2018 U23 World Championships, where he claimed a bronze medal. In 2019, he competed at the World Championships (Reza Yazdani, who had beaten Shabani was forced to pull out of the event, and as Shabani had been the '19 IRI World Team Trials runner–up, he was a replacement), helped his homeland place first at the Clubs World Cup and also claimed silver from the Yasar Dogu.

### 2020–2021

After the COVID-19 outbreak slowed down, Shabani competed at the Iranian World Team Trials in November 2020, in an attempt to qualify for the Individual World Cup. After notably defeating Mojtaba Goleij, he went on to violently upset the dominant Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian twice in a row to claim the spot, although he ended up not being sent to the Individual World Cup.
To start off 2021, Shabani claimed the Asian Continental Championship. Days before, Mohammadian qualified the weight for the 2020 Summer Olympics for Iran with a dominant run at the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament. The Iranian Wrestling Federation decided that the Poland Open (which took place on June 8) would decide the country's representative at the Summer Olympics, contested between Shabani, Alireza Karimi and Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian. After wins over '19 World Championship medalist Magomedgadzhi Nurov and multiple–time Asian Championship medalist Alisher Yergali, he was defeated by Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian in a closely contested two–point final bout. This result determined Mohammadian as the representative for Iran at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

## Major results

| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event |
| Representing Iran ||||||
| 2018 | U23 World Championships | Bucharest, Romania | 3rd | Freestyle 97 kg |
| 2021 | Asian Championships | Almaty, Kazakhstan | 1st | Freestyle 97 kg |

## Freestyle record

International Senior Freestyle Matches :
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Score | Date | Event | Location |
| 2021 Poland Open at 97 kg |||||||
| Loss | 22–6 | Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian | 1–1 | June 8, 2021 | 2021 Poland Open | Warsaw, Poland |
| Win | 22–5 | Alisher Yergali | 7–2 | June 8, 2021 | 2021 Poland Open | Warsaw, Poland |
| Win | 21–5 | Magomedgadzhi Nurov | 9–2 | June 8, 2021 | 2021 Poland Open | Warsaw, Poland |
| 2021 Asian Championships at 97 kg |||||||
| Win | 20–5 | Alisher Yergali | TF 12–2 | April 13–18, 2021 | 2021 Asian Continental Championships | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Win | 19–5 | Satyawart Kadian | TF 10–0 | April 13–18, 2021 | 2021 Asian Continental Championships | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Win | 18–5 | Minwon Seo | TF 11–0 | April 13–18, 2021 | 2021 Asian Continental Championships | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| 2020 Iranian Premier Wrestling League 4th as Team Ghaemshahr at 97 kg |||||||
| Win | 17–5 | Hossein Shahbazi | 5–0 | December 17, 2020 | 2020 Iranian Premier Wrestling League | Tehran, Iran |
| Win | 16–5 | Alireza Safar | | December 17, 2020 | 2020 Iranian Premier Wrestling League | Tehran, Iran |
| 2020 IRI World Team Trials at 97 kg |||||||
| Win | 15–5 | Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian | 4–0 | November 5, 2020 | 2020 Iranian World Team Trials | Tehran, Iran |
| Win | 14–5 | Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian | 8–4 | November 5, 2020 | 2020 Iranian World Team Trials | Tehran, Iran |
| Win | 13–5 | Danial Shariati | 6–2 | November 5, 2020 | 2020 Iranian World Team Trials | Tehran, Iran |
| Win | 12–5 | Mojtaba Goleij | 7–3 | November 5, 2020 | 2020 Iranian World Team Trials | Tehran, Iran |
| 2020 Takhti Cup at 97 kg |||||||
| Win | 11–5 | Esmaeil Nejatian | FF | January 7–8, 2020 | 2020 Takhti Cup | Kermanshah, Iran |
| Loss | 10–5 | Mojtaba Goleij | 4–6 | January 7–8, 2020 | 2020 Takhti Cup | Kermanshah, Iran |
| 2019 World Clubs Cup as Team Bazar-e Bozorg at 97 kg |||||||
| Win | 10–4 | Rusidanmu Reheman | TF 11–0 | December 19, 2019 | 2019 World Clubs Cup | Isfahan, Iran |
| 2019 World Championships 10th at 97 kg |||||||
| Loss | 9–4 | Elizbar Odikadze | 8–11 | September 21, 2019 | 2019 World Championships | Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan |
| Win | 8–3 | Ibrahim Ciftci | 9–1 | September 21, 2019 | 2019 World Championships | Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan |
| 2019 Yasar Dogu at 97 kg |||||||
| Loss | 7–3 | Kyle Snyder | 1–2 | July 11, 2019 | 2019 Yasar Dogu International | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Win | 7–2 | Aslanbek Alborov | TF 10–0 | July 11, 2019 | 2019 Yasar Dogu International | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Win | 6–2 | Fatih Yaşarlı | TF 10–0 | July 11, 2019 | 2019 Yasar Dogu International | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Win | 5–2 | Abraham Conyedo | 6–2 | July 11, 2019 | 2019 Yasar Dogu International | Istanbul, Turkey |
| 2019 IRI World Team Trials at 97 kg |||||||
| Loss | 4–2 | Reza Yazdani | 1–2 | July 1, 2019 | 2019 IRI World Team Trials | Mazandaran Province, Iran |
| Win | 4–1 | Hamed Talebi Zarrinkamar | 3–2 | July 1, 2019 | 2019 IRI World Team Trials | Mazandaran Province, Iran |
| 2018 U23 World Championships at 97 kg |||||||
| Win | 3–1 | Chaoqiang Yang | TF 11–0 | November 12–18, 2018 | 2018 U23 World Championships | Bucharest, Romania |
| Loss | 2–1 | Givi Matcharashvili | TF 0–10 | November 12–18, 2018 | 2018 U23 World Championships | Bucharest, Romania |
| Win | 2–0 | Erik Thiele | 8–0 | November 12–18, 2018 | 2018 U23 World Championships | Bucharest, Romania |
| Win | 1–0 | Simone Iannattoni | TF 11–0 | November 12–18, 2018 | 2018 U23 World Championships | Bucharest, Romania |