City in Khuzestan Will Host Takhti Greco-Roman Cup

Mahshahr city in Khuzestan Province will host the 38th Takhti Greco-Roman Cup slated for January 25-26.

Twelve nations namely Cuba, Finland, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will attend along with the hosts.

United World Wrestling has registered the cup in the list of annual ranking series which gives credibility to the cup as a validate event for its points to be considered for wrestlers affecting their place in the UWW ranking.

The UWW, the international governing body for the sport of wrestling, has announced details of the new ranking conditions for a series of wrestling tournaments in 2018.

The 2018 series will be a soft launch with full implementation expected in 2019.

“The wrestling community deserves a clear ranking system for the sport’s top athletes,” said UWW president Nenad Lalovic. “Rankings make it easier for our fans, athletes and coaches to understand the impact of each tournament and match. That’s brand new for our sport.”

In addition to the continental and world championships, the 2018 series will feature four specialty ranking tournaments for freestyle and Greco-Roman styles of both men and women’s wrestling.

 Ranking Events

In freestyle division, Ivan Yariguin Cup from Russia, Tbilisi GB, from Georgia, South African Open of South Africa and the Medved Cup of Belarus are in the list of verified cups by the UWW to be credited in world rankings.

Coming to Greco-Roman category, the Takhti Cup in January is the first verified cup of the year. Cuban Granma Y Cerro Pelado in February is the next. Hungarian GP and Vehbi Emre from Turkey come later on.

UWW will apply the new International Wrestling Rules in the “January 2018 Edition” to all the mentioned ranking events including Takhti Greco-Roman Cup.

Iran will attend the Takhti Cup with 30 wrestlers in 10 weight categories in the oil-rich province. Khuzestan Province has played host to Greco-roman events including the 2014 Abadan and 2015 Khoramshahr World Wrestling Clubs Cup.

The cup is named after Gholamreza Takhti (1930-1968). Takhti was an Iranian Olympic gold-medalist wrestler and Varzesh-e Bastani (traditional sport) practitioner, popularly nicknamed Jahan Pahlevan (world champion) because of his chivalrous behavior and sportsmanship.

He was the most popular athlete in 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.