The Iranian national freestyle wrestling team have won the world cup for the 7th time after overpowering mighty Russia 5-3 in the final.
Iran, who had defeated the hosts, team USA, in the semis started the final strongly with Hassan Rahimi who won his bout in the 57kg class.Masoud Esmailpour clinched Iran’s second win in the 61kg before Meysam Nasiri lost to his Russian opponent in the 65 kg category.
Then, Mostafa Hossein Khani and Hassan Yazdani gave Iran 2 back to back victories in the 70 and 74kg classes to make it 4-1 to team Iran. However, two consecutive defeats for Iran in the 86 and 97kg weight classes made the last bout in the 125kg all the more important. But Komeil Ghasemi beat his Russian rival to make sure Iran win their 5th consecutive world cup title in freestyle wrestling.
Meanwhile, Georgia defeated the USA in the battle for the last podium spot and became third.