Background
Tërstena was born in Skopje, SFR Yugoslavia and is of Albanian heritage.
Tërstena was born in Skopje, SFR Yugoslavia and is of Albanian heritage.
Growing up in Cair, Tërstena joined the Liria Wrestling Club and was trained by notable coaches Mentaz Allajbegu and Hajrush Sinani, who had also trained notable wrestlers Shaban Sejdiu, Bajram Qorrolli, Abdulla Mehmeti, Mustaf Syla, Shend Kamberi and Adnan Elezi. In the 1982 World Wrestling Championships, Tërstena reached bronze. He has been pronounced the Best Macedonian athlete many times and once, in 1984 the best athlete of Yugoslavia.
In 2000 he has been also pronounced the best Albanian athlete of the last century.
He participated in 42 tournaments in the world winning 30 gold medals, the remainder being silver and bronze.