RUMBLE ON THE RAILS - NEW YORK CITY
U.S., Iran, Russia take part in historic event
By Gary Abbott NEW YORK – The United States, Iran and Russia took
part in a historic event when the teams competed in the Beat the Streets “Rumble on the Rails” event on May May 15 at historic Grand Central Station. The U.S. battled Iran in a freestyle competition before
a combined American team faced off against Russia in freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle. The event was held to promote wrestling’s fight to
keep the sport in the Olympic Games USA vs. Iran
It was a sellout crowd in historic Grand Central
Terminal in New York City, to see two of the world’s best wrestling nations battle on national television provided by NBC Sports Channel. When it was all over, the guests from Iran emerged
with a 6-1 victory, edging Team USA on a number of very close matches. The highlight for the USA was the debut of four-time
NCAA champion Kyle Dake at 74 kg/163 lbs. Competing in his first major international event on the
Senior level, Dake defeated Hassan Tahmasebi, 2-0, 1- 0. Both periods went to the clinch. Dake won the first period in the defensive position, scoring a two-point crotch lift. In the second, he won the ball draw, and lifted up and took him down for the winning point. “Seeing Russians, Iranians and Americans come together for an event like this is really special,” Dake said. “It was super loud and super intense. The emotions were running high. It was exciting.” The other matches went to Iran, which were cheered
loudly by a small but vocal cheering section of Iranian wrestling fans. The first match at 55 kg/121 lbs. was a very close bat-
tle, going three full periods between World bronze medalist Hassan Rahimi of Iran and U.S. Open champi- on Obe Blanc of the USA. Rahimi rallied for the win. Next up was Masoud Esmailpour Joybari of Iran, who stopped two-time U.S. Open champion Reece Humphrey of the USA, 1-0, 6-0. At 66 kg/145.5 lbs., two-time World champion Mehdi
Taghavi battled 2013 U.S. Open champion Kellen Russell. Taghavi jumped to a 2-0 lead, but Russell closed with a takedown. Another Taghavi takedown made it 3-1 after the first period. The second period went to Taghavi with two takedowns, 2-0. After Dake’s win at 74 kg/163 lbs., Iran closed the dual
with three more victories. Olympic bronze medalist Ehsan Lashgari stopped U.S.
Continued on page 13 12 USA Wrestler Kyle Dake earned a big win against Iran. John Sachs photo.
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