Iran Beats Azerbaijan, India at Freestyle World Cup

Rasoul Khadem’s team earned a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Azerbaijan and eased past India 8-0 on Saturday at The Forum, Inglewood, Calif.

Host USA also defeated India and Azerbaijan in Pool B.

Defending champion Iran is now 2-0 in Pool B after first day wins over India and Azerbaijan. It will face USA in a rematch of last year’s World Cup finals on Sunday for a place in the gold medal dual.

Pool A consists of Russia, Turkey, Mongolia and Georgia.

Group B Results
Iran 5 – Azerbaijan 3
57kg: Hassan Rahimi (Iran) tech. fall Makhmud Magomedov (Azerbaijan), 11-1
61kg: Behnam Ehsanpour (Iran) dec. Akhmednabi Gvarzatilov (Azerbaijan), 2-2
65kg: Meysam Nasiri (Iran) dec. Magomed Muslimov (Azerbaijan), 7-5
70kg: Gadzhimurad Omarov (Azerbaijan) dec. Mostafa Hosseinkhani (Iran), 6-3
74kg: Hassan Yazdani Charati (Iran) dec. Ashraf Aliyev (Azerbaijan), 9-5
86kg: Alexandr Gostiev (Azerbaijan) dec. Alireza Karimi (Iran), 5-2
97kg: Aslanbek Alborov (Azerbaijan) dec. Abbas Tahan (Iran), 2-1
125kg: Komeil Ghasemi (Iran) dec. Said Gamidov (Azerbaijan), 6-4

Iran 8 – India 0
57kg: Hassan Rahimi (Iran) forfeit (India)
61kg: Masoud Esmaeilpour (Iran) dec. Bajrang (India), 4-2
65kg: Ahmad Mohammadi (Iran) tech. fall Rajneesh (India), 10-0
70kg: Mostafa Hosseinkhani (Iran) dec. Vinod Kumar (India), 2-0
74kg: Hassan Yazdani Charati (Iran) tech. fall Parveen Rana (India), 12-2
86kg: Alireza Karimi (Iran) tech. fall Pawan Kumar (India), 10-0
97kg: Amir Mohammadi (Iran) tech. fall Satywart Kadian (India), 12-1
125kg: Parviz Hadi (Iran) forfeit (India)