The freestyle wrestling tournament Takhti Cup has started in Tehran and as expected Iranian wrestlers dominated by sweeping gold in all the categories played on the day 1 of the competition. 2019 European Champion Arsen Harutyunyan was the only one by putting a break on the Iranian domination by reaching the finals of 57kg category. But finally in the final Armenian lost to local hope Alireza Serlak 2-3.
Final match results – Day 1
57 kg: Alireza Serlak, (Iran) beat Arsen Haratonian (Armenia) 3-2
65 kg: Meysam Nasiri (Iran) beat Abolfazl Hajipour (Iran) 9-5
79 kg: Ali Sadadokohi, (Iran) beat Amir Hossein Kavousi (Iran) 3-3
97kg: Mojtaba Galej (Iran) beat Javad Nazari (Iran) 10-0
125kg: Parviz Hadi (Iran) Amin Taheri (Iran) 6-4
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The Takhti Cup is organized every year to commemorate the death of Iranian legendary wrestler Gholamreza Takhti. Takhti won the gold medal in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, defeating Boris Kulayev from Soviet Union in the final match. He also claimed two Olympics silver medals in 1952 Helsinki and 1960 Rome. Takhti won two World Championships gold medals in 1959 Tehran and 1961 Yokohama. The freestyle wrestler also seized a gold medal in the 1958 Asian Games held in Tokyo, Japan.
He is the most famous wrestler in Iranian history. The legend was known for his chivalry and sportsmanship and continues to symbolize the essence of sports to the Iranian people.
