The 34th Annual freestyle wrestling tournament Takhti Cup was held in Tehran and 178 wrestlers from 17 countries tested themselves in new weight classes. A total of $96,000 in prize money was handed out to winning wrestlers with $5000 for gold, $3000 for silver and $2000 for bronze.
The Iranian tournament was full of surprises and many Olympic and world medalists were downed.
Jong Hak Jin (PRK), a 2013 world military champion, capped a superb day by topping world No. 5 Rasul Kaliev from Kazakhstan 12-6 in the finals at 57 kg.
Vladimir Khinchegashvili (GEO), the 2012 Olympic silver medalist at 55kg was eliminated by Iranian Hassan Moradgholi in the first round. The home wrestler’s triumph wasn’t the only upset of the day as No. 9 Yang Kyong Il (PRK), a 2009 world champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, placed third at the weight.
Two world medalists competed for gold in the 61kg final match. World bronze medalist Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ) pinned 2008 Olympic silver medal winner Vasyl Fedorishin (UKR) in 3:49. That effort earned the Kazakh recognition at the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
Despite the efforts of the North Korean and Kazakhstanis, Iranian wrestlers captured gold medals at many of the middle weights. Meysam Nasiri (IRI) won gold at 65kg and Mostafa Hosseinkhani (IRI) dominated 70 kg.
Ezatollah Akbari (IRI), the 2013 world silver medalist, failed to reach final as he lost to eventual 74kg champion Reza Afzali (IRI).
The Powerful Meisam Mostafa Jokar (IRI) won his second Takhti Cup title with a dominant 4-0 finals win over Jalal Zaman(IRI) at 86 kg.
Gabor Hatos (HUN) a 2012 Olympic bronze medal winner was not successful in 86kg. He lost to Azizov from Kazakhstan in first round. His Hungarian teammate Istvan Vereb, a 2013 world bronze medalist and No. 4 in the world was also eliminated in the opening rounds.
Georgia wrestling president Eldar Kurtanidze made 97kg a special weight class of the tournament as the former world champion appeared on mat at age 42. A seven time Olympic and world medalist provided fans a dramatic day of wrestling testing himself against Ali Boncuoglu from Turkey.
The pair gave fans the match of the day wrestling an incredible 12-10 match in favor of Boncuoglu. For his part the Georgian legend didn’t feel like a loser as fans cheered for him and his former rivals Rasul Khadem and Alireza Heydari came to the scene thanking him for his performance and attempts.
""I am here to revive memoirs. I felt again the affection of Iranian fans. Khadem and Heydari were strong rivals for me but we are friend outside of the mat. I am with wrestling for 30 years and it is difficult to give up. The future shows I continue or not."" Kurtanidze said after competing at Takhti Cup.
Former junior world champion Hamed Talebi Zarrinkamar(IRI) won 97kg title and world bronze medalist No. 3 Pavlo Oliynik (UKR) won bronze.
The last surprise of the tournament came from 125 kg where two Olympic medalists where downed. Olymopic silver medalist Davit Modzamanshvili (GEO) was eliminated in the first round, and following that loss Olympic bronze medalist Komeil Ghasemi (IRI) was pinned by Daulet Shabanbai (KAZ) in semi final match. The Kazakh wrestler had a tougher time with two times Asian Champion Parviz Hadi (IRI). Hadi beat Shabanbai 9-4 in final match by support of 4000 fans cheering for him.
Final results
57 kg
Gold: Jin Hak Jin (PRK) dec. Rasul Kaliev (KAZ), 12-6
Bronze: Batbold Nomin (MGL) pin Younes Sarmasti (IRI)
Bronze: Yang Kyong Il (PRK) pin Reza Atri (IRI)
61kg
Gold: Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ) pin Vasyl Fedorishin (UKR)
Bronze: Noriyuki Takatsuka (JPN) dec. Ri Jong Myong (PRK), 5-3
Bronze: Seyed Ahmad Mohammadi(IRI) tech fall Valodya Frangulyan(ARM), 12-2
65kg
Gold: Meysam Nasiri (IRI) tech fall Konstantin Khabalashvili (GEO), 12-0
Bronze: Farzad Kolivand(IRI) pin Ebrahim Nasiri (IRI)
Bronze: Dauren Zhumagazyev (KAZ) dec. Daichi Takatani(JPN), 3-2
70kg
Gold: Mostafa Hosseinkhani (IRI) dec. Peyman Yarahmadi (IRI), 5-0
Bronze: Mohammad Mehdi Yeganeh Jafari (IRI) dec. Bolat Sakaev (KAZ), 10-2
Bronze: Saeed Dadashpour (IRI) dec. Azamat Omurzhanov (KAZ), 8-1
74kg
Gold: Reza Afzali (IRI) dec. Iman Mohammadian (IRI), 6-0
Bronze: Hamed Rezaei (IRI) dec. Tsotne Baramidze (KAZ), 1-0
Bronze: Ezatollah Akbari (IRI) tech fall Iskhakbek Shopokov (KGZ), 13-0
86kg
Gold: Meisam Mostafa Jokar (IRI) dec. Jalal Zaman (IRI), 4-0
Bronze: Esmaeil Nejatian (IRI) dec. Yeraly Abarashev (KAZ), 6-4
Bronze: Mohammad Javad Ebrahimi (IRI) dec. Alireza Karimi (IRI), 8-2
97kg
Gold: Hamed Talebi Zarrinkamar (IRI) dec. Abbas Tahan (IRI), 3-0
Bronze: Pavlo Olinik (UKR) tech fall Roman Bakirov (AZE), 12-2
Bronze: Dato Kerashvili (GEO) dec. Magomed Musaev (KGZ), 2-0
125kg
Gold: Parviz Hadi (IRI) dec. Daulet Shabanbai (KAZ), 9-4
Bronze: Abdollah Ghomi (IRI) dec. Aiaal Lazarev (KGZ), 11-6
Bronze: Komei Ghasemi (IRI) dec. Mohammadreza Azarshakib (IRI), 2-1
Final Standings
57 kg: 1- Jin Hak Jin (PRK) 2- Rasul Kaliev (KAZ) 3- Batbold Nomin (MGL)& Yang Kyong Il (PRK) 5- Younes Sarmasti (IRI) & Reza Atri (IRI)
61kg: 1- Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ)2- Vasyl Fedorishin(UKR) 3-Noriyuki Takatsuka (JPN) & Seyed Ahmad Mohammadi(IRI) 5- Ri Jong Myong (PRK) & Valodya Frangulyan(ARM)
65kg: 1- Meysam Nasiri (IRI) 2- Konstantin Khabalashvili (GEO) 3- Farzad Kolivand(IRI) & Dauren Zhumagazyev (KAZ) 5- Ebrahim Nasiri (IRI)& Daichi Takatani(JPN)
70kg: 1- Mostafa Hosseinkhani (IRI) 2- Peyman Yarahmadi (IRI) 3- Mohammad Mehdi Yeganeh Jafari (IRI) & Saeed Dadashpour (IRI) 5- Bolat Sakaev (KAZ) & Azamat Omurzhanov(KAZ)
74kg: 1- Reza Afzali (IRI) 2- Iman Mohammadian (IRI)3- Hamed Rezaei (IRI)& Ezatollah Akbari (IRI) 5- Tsotne Baramidze (KAZ) & Iskhakbek Shopokov (KGZ)
86kg: 1- Meisam Mostafa Jokar (IRI)2- Jalal Zaman (IRI) 3- Esmaeil Nejatian (IRI)& Mohammad Javad Ebrahimi (IRI) 5- Yeraly Abarashev (KAZ) & Alireza Karimi (IRI)
97kg: 1- Hamed Talebi Zarrinkamar (IRI)2- Abbas Tahan (IRI)3- Pavlo Olinik (UKR) & Dato Kerashvili (GEO) 5- Roman Bakirov (AZE) & Magomed Musaev (KGZ)
125kg: 1- Parviz Hadi (IRI) 2- Daulet Shabanbai (KAZ) 3- Abdollah Ghomi (IRI) & Komei Ghasemi (IRI) 5- Aiaal Lazarev (KGZ)& Mohammadreza Azarshakib (IRI)
Team standings:
1 - Iran 74 pts
2 - Kazakhstan 54 pts
3 - Ukraine 21 pts
4 - North Korea 20 pts
5 - Kyrgyzstan 20 pts
6 - Georgia 19 pts
7 - Japan 18 pts
8 - Mongolia 13 pts
9 - Azerbaijan 13 pts
10 - Armenia 6 pts
