Shiraz (IP) - Iran became champion of the 40th International Takhti Greco-Roman Wrestling Cup, winning an impressive 10 gold medals.

Iran Press/Iran news: The 40th edition of the International Takhti Greco-Roman Wrestling Cup’ wrapped up in the south-central Iranian city of Shiraz on Friday.

The competition started on Thursday and ended on Friday with the attendance of 116 wrestlers from Armenia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Iran at the Shahid Dastgheib Hall in Shiraz.

At the end of the tournament, Iran finished first with 250 points. Armenia and Tajikistan came in second and third with 55 and 12 points, respectively.

In the 55 kilogram category, Pouya Nasser defeated Pouya Dadmarz and won a gold medal.

In the class of 60 kilograms, Mehdi Mohsennejad won the gold medal.

Meysam Delkhani won gold in the 63-kilogram category, while Hossein Assadi grabbed gold in the 67-kilogram category.

Amin Kavyaninejad, Pejman Pashtam, and Mehdi Ebrahimi won three other gold medals in the 72, 77, 82-kilogram categories respectively.

Behrouz Hedayat finished first in the 87-kilogram category while Mohammad Hadi Saravi snatched another gold medal in the 97-kilogram category.

In the class of 130 kilograms, Ali Akbari-Yousefi defeated Parsa Nazari and was crowned champion.

The annual tournament is held in honour of legendary Iranian Freestyle wrestler Gholam Reza Takhti, who died in 1968, half a century ago, and to commemorate the anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Who is Takhti?

Gholam-Reza Takhti (1930-1968) was an Iranian Olympic Gold-Medalist wrestler and traditional Iranian bodybuilding (known as 'Varzesh-e Bastani' in Iran) practitioner.

Because of his chivalrous behavior and sportsmanship, he was the most popular athlete of Iran in the 20th century, although dozens of Iranian athletes have won more international medals than he did.

Takhti is still a hero to many Iranians. He is listed in the FILA wrestling hall of fame. To honor the legendary figure, international wrestling competitions in Freestyle and Greco-Roman categories are annually held in Iran.

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