Oganisyan won a gold medal at the 1981 World Wrestling Championships and 1981 Wrestling World Cup the following year. However, he also received a serious back injury in 1982 and had to take some time off. It took almost two years for Oganisyan is recover, after which he qualified for the 1984 Soviet Olympic team but missed the Olympics due to the Soviet boycott. Instead he competed in wrestling at the Friendship Games and won gold as light-heavyweight, and later won the World Cup that year as well.