#OlympicChannel

Olympic Channel: Iran's 'Greatest' Hassan Yazdani Seeks Wrestling Immortality

Thursday, June 25, 2020 - 12:35 By Andrew Binner

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Hassan YAZDANI, a 25-year-old native of Jouybar, is already a national hero in Iran. He's claimed gold at the Rio Olympic Games and has a pair of world titles on his resume. In an article published on the Olympic Channel, Andrew Binner broke down the career of "The Greatest" and looked at his path to a potential second Olympic title.

"Freestyle wrestling is Iran’s national sport, so when Hassan Yazdani pinned down the 74kg gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, he became an instant national hero.

He moved up to 86kg, which better suited his growing frame, taking out the world championships gold medal at his new weight division in 2017 and 2019.

Yazdani became known as The Greatest and Fearless back home, while his Instagram account swelled to over 500K followers. Quite simply, he could walk the streets of Iran like he was The King… which is incidentally another one of his nicknames there.

“The truth is that I hope I am worthy of these nicknames,” he told Tehran Times. “Each one is valuable for me and so I hope I can live up to the nicknames and the expectations of my great fans. I always want to keep their hope, so I accept them all and just hope that I am worthy.”

Read more on the Olympic Channel's site ... here

#TurkiyeWrestling

UWW mourns death of nine wrestlers 

Friday, February 10, 2023 - 18:32 By United World Wrestling Press

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COSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (February 11) -- Five days after multiple earthquakes hit the Kahramanmaraş province in southwest Turkiye, nine wrestlers were confirmed dead on Friday.  

In the aftermath of the earthquake which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, people were stuck under the rubble and large-scale efforts are still continuing to save lives.

The following are the nine wrestlers that we have lost:

Mehmet ESKISARILI
Ahmet TAS
Ali GURSOY
Eray SIMSEK
Halil EDIRNE
Hasan SARITURK
Ozan TATLI
Ahmet DURMAN
Aslan EKIZ

United World Wrestling mourns their death.

"It is with a heavy heart to report we have lost nine wrestlers in the earthquakes that took place on February 6,” Nenad LALOVIC, UWW President, said “I ask that we remember these wrestlers, say their names aloud and pray for them and their families. The whole entire wrestling community is devastated by the loss of these young men who had a bright future ahead of them.”

More than 25,000 people have died so far as the earthquake hit Kahramanmaraş, affecting southwest Turkiye and northwest Syria.

A U20 wrestling tournament finished hours a night before the earthquake struck. Teams from France, Uzbekistan, Kosvo and Turkiye were participating in it. All the international wrestlers were sent home safely the next day. However, with the wrestling club demolished, a few Turkish wrestlers were stuck under the rubble.

On the first day, 21 wrestlers were saved immediately and others were subsequently rescued from under the rubble.

Olympic champion Taha AKGUL (TUR) was among the first ones to call for help and save the "30-40 wrestlers" stuck under the rubble. Four-time world champion Riza KAYAALP (TUR), Kerem KAMAL (TUR) and many others have volunteered and reached the earthquake-affected areas. They have joined hands to help and rescue the victims. The wrestling community around the world has shown support and donated to help Turkiye.

President of the Turkish Wrestling Federation Seref EROGLU, who belongs to Kahramanmaras, has been present at the site from the first day and joined the rescue operations.