Career
Throughout his sporting career, Ashkani trained full-time for Takhti Wrestling Club in Ardabil under his coach and mentor jafar Damirchi. 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 of Korea with a powerful 3–1 decision, but bounced back to turn down United States. 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). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Ashkani qualified for his second Iranian squad, as a 25-year-old, in the men"s 60 kg class.
Earlier in the process, he finished third at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to guarantee his spot on the Iranian wrestling team Ashkani lost two opening matches each to Cuba"s Roberto Monzón (1–4) and Turkey"s Şeref Tüfenk (1–3), but stunned the home crowd to tame Greek wrestler Christos Gikas with a 1–6 verdict at the end of the prelim pool.
Unlike his previous Games, Ashkani"s performance was not enough to advance him to the quarterfinals, placing eleventh in the final standings.
In 2005, Ashkani recovered from an Olympic setback to flourish his wrestling career with two more medals.