Bender and a group of 14 strong US wrestlers arrived in Bandar Abbas Tuesday to participate in the 27th International Free Style Wrestling Competition (Takhti Cup) in this port city.
The competition will be held on January 18 and 19 with four foreign teams from the US, Iraq, the Republic of Daghestan and Turkmenistan participating as well as 95 Iranian wrestlers.
Speaking to the head of the Iranian Wrestling Federation, Mohammad-Reza Yazdani-Khorram, Bender said he was happy the US team could participate.
He said that the US team is competing in the Takhti Cup hoping their Iranian fellow wrestlers would visit the US, too, and participate in the wrestling contests there.
Lauding the professionalism of Iranian wrestling coaches, Bender said their abilities were very much higher than international standards.
He said US wrestlers were participating in the competition in order to share the experiences of wrestlers from Iran and other countries.
Meanwhile, Yazdani-Khorram said that wrestling competitions like the Takhti Cup would help Iranian and other countries' wrestlers upgrade their sporting abilities in the field.
He had earlier said that the US wrestlers will try to make up for their failure in the 2006 World Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Guangzhou, China which saw Iranian wrestlers beat four US rivals.
Iran ranked second in the Guangzhou championships, taking home one gold, one silver, and two bronzes, and winning 44 points. | 
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