Iran defeated the U.S., 5-3, Sunday at the Forum to win wrestling’s Freestyle World Cup for the fourth consecutive year.
Iran clinched the match when 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Komeil Ghasemi defeated Zach Rey, 3-1, scoring the final three points before a pro-Iranian crowd announced at 4,234.
The U.S. was in the final for the first time since 2003, the last time it won wrestling’s annual dual meet championship.
“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. We can’t do it at this level.”
The U.S. never led. Iran won three of the first four matches, all by decisions. U.S. Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs won by a 10-0 technical fall over Morteza Rezaei Ghaleh in the 74-kilogram class to improve his career record to 102-2, cutting Iran’s lead to 3-2.
Iran took a 4-2 lead when Meisam Mostafa Joukar won by a 12-2 technical fall over Clayton Foster in the 86-kilogram class.
Jake Varner kept the U.S.’ hopes alive by defeating Mohammad Hossei Mohammadian in the 97-kilogram class. Both wrestlers scored three points, but Varner was the winner by virtue of scoring last.
The U.S. advanced to the final by defeating Mongolia, 8-0, earlier Sunday winning its pool with a 3-0 record. Iran defeated Azerbaijan, 7-1, earlier Sunday, winning its pool with a 3-0 record.
The U.S. defeated Cuba and Russia in pool matches Saturday.
— City News Service