THE IRANIAN CLASSICS

Yesterday in Yerevan volume one of the chronicles of 2^nd World Deaf Wrestling Championship had been completed along with the combat of classic style wrestlers. The main annalists were surely Iranians – and they deserved it, too, winning the team event – but many other athletes had also put plenty of energy in writing this story. Armenians, for example, were excellent on the second day of the tournament.

Stepan Harutyunyan’s (60 kilos mass) performance was especially impressive. It is not just winning the team’s first golden medal, it is the way he did it. Mobile, lean, stringy Stepan never waits for his opponent’s error. He attacks and attacks and forces the rival to make a mistake. His physique is perfect for a wrestler, it is obvious after just one look at his arms. Long, tenacious and strong like steel ropes, they seem to be made for lightweight wrestling. Stepan easily stubs his opponents out of the stalls as if they were rotting stumps in loose soil. He is also mentally strong, and that is important: even when the period is obviously going to be lost, he fights till the end and never gives up faith in his own capability of performing a little sport miracle. Of course, he does not succeed in this every day and he is not always tactically perfect either, but when he is at his best he is unstoppable.

Needless to say, with all the support he got yesterday this Armenian wrestler did not lack inspiration. On his way to the final he had overcome Nenad Rizvanovich from Serbia and Vitaly Butenko from Ukraine and in the last combat he had beautifully overpowered Mahmoud Beigizadeh from Iran. Armenian fans did not stop celebrating this memorable victory till late at night and Harutyunyan himself felt like a national hero.

His teammate Aziz Amoyan who had gotten very close to the golden medal in 74 kilos class but failed to win it was also praised. Aziz’s style is very different from that of Harutyunyan. This wrestler’s main strategies are patience and persistence and they do work. They had got him through to the final in a plain but effective way. Nonetheless, in the decisive duel Mohammad Moradi turned out to be stronger and won his well-deserved champion’s title. The third position in this class was shared by Anatoliy Borisenko from Ukraine and Vladimir Zaytsev from Russia.

The last stage of Greco-Roman style wrestling was the fight for champion’s title in 84 kilos class between Ilhan Citak from Turkey and Ruslan Belyavski from Ukraine. The Turkish athlete was infallible so after two rounds his opponent had to give in. The bronze medals went to Mohammad Mahboubi from Iran and – surprisingly – to Aram Akopyan from Kyrgyzstan.

When the duels were over an award ceremony took place. The medals for single wrestling were presented to their rightful owners and the cups for team events as well. As we have already said Iranian team was the best; the second prize was awarded to Turkey and the third one to the team of classic style wrestlers from Ukraine.

Today was a day off for the athletes. The organizing team offered them wonderful excursions and in the evening a tournament in Russian billiards was held among the official representatives of wrestling teams. Everyone was feeling relaxed and got the chance to have a little rest before two whole days of freestyle wrestling. Let’s hope they will be just as exciting as the first part of the championship!