Iranian freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers, thanks to the mix of prime hand-to-hand combat skills and complex tactics they exhibited in various high-status international tournaments, have been elected as the world’s best athletes in the latest United World Wrestling rankings.
Iranian freestyle wrestler Hassan Yazdani Charati took over the top ranking in the 86-kilogram weight category. He was followed by Melvin Bibo from Nigeria.
Mongolian freestyle wrestler Orgodolyn Üitümen took the third ranking spot of the weight class, standing ahead of Janse Hein Jacobus Van Rensburg from South Africa and American sportsman David Taylor who landed in the fourth and fifth places.
On March 4, Yazdani Charati overwhelmed Mongolian representative Orgodolyn Üitümen 10-0 in Kozhomkul Sports Palace of the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek, and snatched a gold medal for Iran in the final bout of the 86-kilogram weight category at the 2018 Asian Wrestling Championships.
Meanwhile, Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler Reza Khedri claimed the top spot in the 55-kilogram weight division. Shota Tanokura from Japan stood in the second position.
Kyrgyzstan’s Zholaman Sharshenbekov, Indian Greco-Roman wrestler Kumar Rajender and Kazakh sportsman Khorlan Zhakansha occupied the third to fifth places of the chart.
Additionally, Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers Mohammad Ali Geraei, Seyyed Mostafa Seyyed Ghanbar Salehizadeh and Behnam Mahdizadeh Arpatappeh took the top honors in the 77-kilogram, 97-kilogram and 130-kilogram weight sections respectively.