TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- Mansour Mahdizadeh, Iran’s former world freestyle wrestling champion, was here Tuesday decorated with the gold shield and highest badge of FILA, the world wrestling's governing body.

During a ceremony held in the National Olympic Academy, northwestern Tehran, the Iranian champion received the FILA award from Vice-President and Head of the Physical Education Organization Mohsen Mehralizadeh.

Mahdizadeh was a national freestyle wrestler of Iran in the 1960s. He was a pal of national hero Gholamreza Takhti.

The wrestler won world gold medals in 1961, 1962, and 1965 in Japan, the United States, and England respectively. He took a world bronze medal in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1963.