Champion Abbas Zandi Passes Away

Abbas Zandi, world champion in freestyle wrestling and former head coach of the Iranian national team, passed away at the age of 87. He was a man from the first generation of freestyle wrestling in Iran; a generation that stepped onto the mat to learn the rules of modern competitive wrestling from the traditional wrestling pit. At that time, Sayim Arikan from Turkey was hired as the head coach of the Iranian national team to familiarize the traditional wrestlers with modern wrestling techniques. After World War II, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, there was an exciting era of rivalry between Iranian and Turkish champions. Champions such as Gholamreza Takhti and Zandi from Iran, and Yasar Dogu, Ismat Atli, and Haidar Zafar from Turkey emerged. Now, the Takhti and Dogu cups in both countries are among the oldest tournaments in the wrestling world. Abbas Zandi held the title of Iranian champion in four different periods. He left behind interesting records, including going to the Olympics at the age of 18, becoming the youngest champion in the country at 19, and reaching the head coach position of the national team at 32 with the support of Takhti and the approval of Bloor. Before Takhti joined the national front, they had a close friendship. Two peers and old friends. At the Tokyo Olympics, Zandi was the head coach, and Takhti was a wrestler. There was a distance between them, and Takhti was moved by other members of the national team along with weightlifters. Zandi, who also reached the rank of colonel, had bad luck in the Olympics; he competed in three editions without winning a medal but also led the national team as head coach in two editions. When the plane carrying Alireza Pahlavi crashed, the Shah had such confidence in the 24-year-old Zandi that he was among the first search groups sent to the heights of Mazandaran. During their championship years, they would switch weights so that the Iranian national team could benefit from both. In the 1951 Helsinki World Championships, Takhti competed in the 79 kg category, and Zandi in the 87 kg category. The following year at the Olympics, it was reversed. In the 1954 World Championships, Takhti competed one weight higher so that Zandi could become the champion in the 79 kg category. Zandi defeated Swedish Axel Gruenberg, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, for the world gold. He also defeated Atli from Turkey. Atli was Zandi and Takhti's rival in the Melbourne and Rome Olympics. Alireza Zandi, Abbas Zandi's son, was a heavyweight champion in Iranian freestyle wrestling and now oversees the national wrestling team. Meanwhile, the Minister of Sports and Youth and the President of the National Olympic Committee have expressed their condolences for the passing of Abbas Zandi in separate messages. According to media reports, Zandi's funeral will be held on Tuesday, November 1, in front of the main entrance of Shahid Shiroudi Stadium (Amjadieh).