Iranian freestyle wrestler Rahimi top-ranked in world’s 57kg section

Iranian freestyle wrestler Hassan Rahimi has clinched the title as the world’s best athlete in the 57-kilogram weight class in the July 2017 edition of the United World Wrestling rankings.

The 27-year-old claimed the top position of the chart, and was followed by the biggest European wrestling star Giorgi Edisherashvili from Azerbaijan.

Turkish freestyle wrestler Suleyman Atli took the third ranking spot of the weight category, standing ahead of Zaur Uguev from Russia, Mongolian sportsman Erdenebat Bekhbayar and Romania’s Andrei Dukov who landed in the fourth to the sixth places.

Rahimi downed his Cuban opponent Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez in the third-place contest of men’s 57kg weight category on August 19, 2016, and earned a bronze medal.

While Rahimi had a 9-0 lead over his Cuban opponent, he pinned Rodriguez’s shoulders to the mat to win the bout by a fall in the third round and collect the bronze medal.

Rahimi, who had a bye in the first round, overpowered Armenian wrestler Garnik Mnatsakanyan 13-0 in the second, before overcoming Russia’s representative Victor Lebedev 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

The 27-year-old Iranian sportsman however conceded a 5-10 defeat from Japan’s Rei Higuchi in the semifinal, and had to appear in the bronze medal bout.

Wrestling bouts at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games began at Hall 3 of the Olympic Training Center in Barra da Tijucaon August 14, and ran through August 21, 2016.