TEHRAN, Feb. 17 (MNA) – Iran’s national squad of freestyle wrestlers defeated the US rivals at the final to crown the World Cup for the sixth consecutive time.

Iranian wrestlers who got to the top of the pool B, in the first day of the 2017 Freestyle Wrestling World Cup in Iranian Western city of Kermanshah, defeating India and Turkey, beat their Mongolian rivals of the second day to reach the final of the event where they crashed their American opponents and claimed the title for the sixth consecutive time.

Defending champions, who had won the last five Freestyle World Cup titles, were strongly motivated to seek a repeat at home at the 2017 Freestyle World Cup in Kermanshah and beat the Americans 5-3 to cement their unique stance in the world of wrestling.

In their opening match on Thursday morning, the Iranian athletes wrestled with the Turkish rivals. In the 57kg weight class, Hassan Rahimi defeated Sezar Akgul 6-0 to usher in a strong start for the hosts’ squad. Hassan Yazdani was the other Iranian wrestler who garnered an 8-0 victory defeating all his Turkish rivals.

All Iranian wrestlers, Masoud Esmaeilpour, Meisam Nasiri, Mostafa Hosseinkhani, Bahman Teymoori, Alireza Karimi, Hossein Shahbazi and Komeil Ghasemi, defeated their Indian opponents to mark the strength of the world’s powerhouse of the sport.

On the second day, the Persian wrestlers defeated their last group stage rival, Mongolia, 7-1, to get to the final with their traditional opponents from the USA. In the 57kg weight class, Hassan Rahimi edge past his Mongol rival 7-6. In the 61kg weight category, Iran’s Masoud Esmailpour beat Tulga Tumur-Ochir of Mongolia, 4-0. The only defeat of Iran to a Mongolia was at 65kg as Batmagnai Batchuluun (MGL) powered past Mohammademehdi Yeganehjafari, 4-3. Hamed Rashidi, Peyman Yarahmadi, Hassan Yazdani, Amir Mohammadi, and Yadollah Mohebbi all crushed their Mongolian rivals at weight categories of 70kg, 74kg, 86kg, 97kg, and 125kg with respective results of 10-0, 10-0, 13-2, technical superiority victory, and 5-0.

Before the matches of the final bout, Azerbaijan defeated Turkey to end as the third and the Russians beat Mongolia 7-1 to land at the 5th place. The Georgians who defeated the Indian 7-1 claimed the 7th place of the competitions.

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