FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
USA comes up just short in finals battle with Iran
By Craig Sesker LOS ANGELES – The United States
came out determined to end Iran’s World Cup reign. But the powerful Iranians held off a
strong American effort, capturing their fourth straight World Cup title with a 5-3 win over the U.S. before 4,234 fans on April 12 at the L.A. Forum. Iran led 4-3 entering the final match
before Olympic and World medalist Komeil Ghasemi rallied for a 3-1 win over Zach Rey in the final bout at heavy- weight. The U.S. was seeking its first World
Cup freestyle title since 2003. The U.S. has won 13 World Cup titles. Iran won its sixth World Cup title. The U.S. reached the World Cup finals
for the first time in 12 years. “We absolutely had our chances,” U.S.
coach Bruce Burnett said. “We let a few matches get away, but right now we’re not good enough. We need to get better. Our guys wrestled as hard as they could, but we have to be able to fix the problem areas. We had some great efforts from everybody, but we made some pretty basic mistakes.” Rey led 1-0 after one period before Ghasemi battled back. Ghasemi tied it 1- 1 and then countered a shot attempt late in the match and spun behind Rey for a takedown to seal the win. Rey needed to score when it was 1-1 because Ghasemi had scored last. Two-time World medalist Tervel Dlagnev, who won by technical fall in ear- lier in the day against Mongolia, was unable to go in the Iran dual at heavy- weight. Dlagnev has been battling an injury. Ed Ruth also didn’t compete at 86 kg/189 lbs. because of an injury. Olympic gold medalist and two-time
World champion Jordan Burroughs used his superior speed and power to domi- nate Iran’s Morteza Rezaei Ghaleh by a 10-0 technical fall at 74 kg/163 lbs. Burroughs is now 102-2 in his career
and 19-0 in four World Cup appearances. “There aren’t a lot of times you beat an Iranian 10-0, so it was a great win,”
32 USA Wrestler
Above: American Tony Ramos fires in on a shot against World champion Hassan Rahimi of Iran in the World Cup finals. At right: Jordan Burroughs cele- brates his 10-0 technical fall victory over Iran. Tony Rotundo photos.
Burroughs said. “I wanted to put on a show for all the fans that came out here. This weekend I really wanted to be stingy on defense. I still have a lot to work on, but it was a good match and a good day.” Olympic champion Jake Varner fired in
for a takedown in the closing seconds to pull out a dramatic victory over Iran’s Mohammad Hossei Mohammadian at 97 kg/213 lbs. Varner trailed 3-1 before scoring the winning takedown. The match ended 3-3, but Varner won by virtue of scoring last. “I knew I had to go – I had to do some-
thing,” Varner said. “It feels good obvious- ly. I didn’t wrestle my best, but I got the takedown and I got the job done.” American Brent Metcalf continued his
superb wrestling with a gritty 3-1 win over 2014 World silver medalist Masmoud Esmailpour of Iran at 65 kg/143 lbs. Metcalf was the aggressor throughout the match and finished unbeaten at the World Cup for the second straight year. “I was a little frustrated – I know I can
put more points on the board,” Metcalf said. “The guy was losing and I was won- dering why he was blocking. It was a good win, but I got to get to their legs more. It was still a good win.” Junior World champion Hassan
Yazdani of Iran scored a first-period take- down before edging World Team member Nick Marable 3-1 at 70 kg/154 lbs. Iran’s Meisam Mostafa Joukar gave up
the first takedown before storming back to earn a 12-2 technical fall over Clayton Foster at 86 kg/189 lbs. World champion Hassan Rahimi of Iran
held on for a win over Tony Ramos in the first match at 57 kg/125.5 lbs. The match ended 5-5, but Rahimi won on criteria. Iran’s Behnam Ehsanpoor rallied for a
9-7 win over Olympic bronze medalist Coleman Scott at 61 kg/134 lbs. Scott threw Ehasanpoor to his back and nearly pinned him early in the match. Scott led 7-2 after the first period
before the Iranian staged a furious sec- ond-period rally.
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