TEHRAN (February 9) – This week the Iranian Wrestling Federation held the country’s largest-ever national wrestling tournament at the Azadi Hall in Tehran.

The Iranian Wrestling Federation scheduled the “2015 Open Wrestling Tournament” in three age categories (cadets, juniors and seniors) with about 2100 wrestlers competing on 15 mats.

The tournament’s winners are progressed to the Iranian National Team tournament, where the winners earn a coveted spot on the Iranian national wrestling team.

One of the purposes of Iran federation was to fulfil United World Wrestling’s continued push to create large, fan-friendly wrestling events that would showcase to show the sport’s desire to return to the core of the Olympic programme. Iranian TV broadcasted coverage the competition as well as TV and radio channels. The nightly newscasts also aired a complete report of the competition.

The Iranian Wrestling Federation also requested to have the event qualified for the Guinness World Records as the biggest Olympic-style wrestling event in the world, with more than 2100 wrestlers participating in the action.

More than 8000 fans watched the competitions and the tournament started by command of president of Iran Olympic Committee Kiomars Hashemi and Iran Minister of Sport and Youth Mahmoud Goudarzi attend in Azadi Hall.

Several women were also in attendance, an uncommon site at wrestling halls in Iran, but a welcoming sign for the Olympic Committee focused on growth and change, and one welcomed by United World Wrestling who continues to push gender equity in the sport.

The best wrestlers of the Iran Open tournament qualified to compete in Iran team trial for 2015 World Championships. Two-time world champion Mehdi Taghavi also competed in the two-day tournament and won gold at 70kg. 

Freestyle (seniors) – 336 wrestlers

57kg: Nader Hajaghania, 61kg: Hassan Moradgholi, 65kg: Meysam Heydari, 70kg: Mehdi Taghavi, 74kg: Ali Ghasemi, 86kg: Jalal Zaman, 97kg: Jamal Mirzaei, 125kg: Seyed Reza Mousavi

Greco-Roman (seniors)- 329 wrestlers

59kg: Mohsen Hajipour, 66kg: Amin Souri, 71kg: Mehdi Zeydvand, 75kg: Farshad Rostamikia, 80kg: Yousef Ghaderian, 85kg: Edris Ebrahimi, 98kg: Davoud Gilneyrang, 130kg: Masoud Nemat Chekani.

Freestyle (juniors) - 364 wrestlers

50kg: Rahman Rahimpour, 55kg: KKheirollah Ghahremani, 60kg: Peyman Biabani, 66kg: Samir Yavari, 74kg: Kamran Ghasempour, 84kg: Esmaeil Mahmoudi, 96kg: Houman Ghanbari, 120kg: Mehrshad Mohammadi

Greco-Roman (juniors)- 335 wrestlers

50kg: Masoud Adinehvand, 55kg: Hamed Tab, 60kg: Mehdi Morad Haseli, 66kg: Behnam Afshar Nik, 74kg: Behrouz Hedayat, 84kg: Ali Hashemi, 96kg: Aliakbar Heydari, 120kg: Mohammadhossein Rahimzadeh

Freestyle (cadets)- 369 wrestlers

42kg: Mehdi Eshghi, 46kg: Amir Parse, 50kg: Amirhossein Gerami, 54kg: Omid Mansouri, 58kg: Heydar Ghorbani, 63kg: Ahmad Mehdizadeh, 69kg: Elyas Tarigh, 76kg: Mohammad Hossein Karami, 85kg: Meysam Abdi, 100kg: Morteza Fattahzadeh

Greco-Roman (cadets) - 361 wrestlers

42kg: Mehdi Ghorbani, 46kg: Meysam Rezaeinejad, 50kg: Hojattollah Esmaeili, 54kg: Hossein Mobasher Amini, 58kg: Amin Kavianinejad, 63kg: Mohammad Rostami, 69kg: Azizollah Alizadeh, 76kg: Hossein Forouzandeh, 85kg: Hossein Mehdinejad, 100kg: Ali Ghasemi