Iran and the US split the last two matches at the opening day of the World Freestyle Championships Friday.
Iran's Hadi Habibi beat Joe Williams 3-1 in overtime in the 73kg class. Two minutes later Cael Sanderson defeated Majid Khodaee of Iran 8-2 at 83kg. US wrestlers had won their first 20 matches in the two sessions of pool competition before the two highly anticipated matchups between American and Iranian wrestlers.
"We train to win every match. We were excited about our performance, but we feel as bad about the one loss as we are happy about the 21 wins," US coach Bobby Douglas said.
PHOTO: AFP
Williams was thrown for three points as overtime began and the contingent of Iranian fans erupted and the crowd estimated at 6,000 chanted back and forth.
Eric Guerrero of the US won two matches at 59kg, including a 3-1 overtime win over Mohammad Talaei of Iran.
Other American victories included Sara McMann pinning world silver medallist Sara Erikkson of Sweden at 62kg and Stephen Abas winning twice in overtime at 54kg, including a 3-1 victory over 2002 Olympic gold medallist Abdullaev Yadulla of Azerbaijan.
"I set a goal a long time ago to be a world champion," Abas said. "I have to clear the pool to do that."
Svetlana Martynenko of Russia upset women's world 67kg champion Katerina Burmistrova of Ukraine 3-1 in the first session of the pool competiton at the World Freestyle Championships.
Also, Tanabe Chickara of Japan edged 2001 world 55kg champion German Kontoev of Belarus 11-10 at Madison Square Garden.
The world freestyle championships were to be held in New York in September 2001, but were moved to Bulgaria following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
WORLD SERIES: ‘The individuals that were involved in that last night was a very small segment of the east Los Angeles community,’ the Los Angeles county sheriff said Rowdy crowds took to the streets of Los Angeles after the LA Dodgers won the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, setting a city bus on fire, breaking into stores and lighting fireworks. A dozen arrests were reported by police on Thursday, but officials said that most fans celebrated peacefully. Video showed revelers throwing objects at police in downtown LA as sirens blared and officers told them to leave the area on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the MLB World Series at Giants Stadium in New York. Another video showed someone standing atop
RSS