United States wins thriller over Iran, 16-15, in Session II of the World Cup
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Heather Van Peursem (USA Wrestling)
05/05/2001
The United States won a thriller of a match over Iran, 16-15, coming down to the heavyweight match during Session II of the World Cup. The U.S. won four of the bouts, and started behind with a loss at 119 pounds. Teague Moore (Pittsburgh, Pa./Sunkist Kids) lost a 3-0 decision to Golam Reza Mohammadi, who is a 1998 world bronze medalist. At 127.75 pounds, Kerry Boumans (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) came out with an exciting 5-2 decision over Massoud Mostafa Gokar to put points on the board for the U.S. Iran came back and won the next two bouts. 2000 Olympic champion Ali Reza Dabier of Iran decisioned 2000 Olympian Cary Kolat (Morgantown, W. Va./Dave Schultz WC), 4-3 in a tight match at 138.75 pounds. At 152 pounds, Mehdi Baraati of Iran won a close overtime decision over Chris Bono (Gilbert, Iowa/Sunkist Kids), 2-1. Joe Williams (Iowa City, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) turned things around for the U.S. with a win at 167.5 pounds. He decisioned Mehdi Akbarnejad, 4-2. 2000 Olympian Charles Burton (Bloomington, Ind./NYAC), who is fighting a minor back injury came through at 187.25 pounds with an overtime 3-2 decision. Dominic Black (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) lost a 4-1 decision to 1998 World Champion Ali Reza Heidari, but put the U.S. within three team points going into the heavyweight match. 2000 Olympic team member Kerry McCoy (Bethlehem, Pa./NYAC) pinned Abrahim Mehraban in 2:31 to give the U.S. the team victory by one point. The U.S. is now 2-0 in competition while Iran is 1-1. U.S. quotes from the session 58 kg - Kerry Boumans, Colorado Springs, Colo. - "I went out there personally, but still being a lower weight, I want to try and win for the team and get the momentum in our favor, and get it back on our side. I pointed to the crowd afterwards to get the U.S. crowd in the match and get them pumped up." 76 kg - Joe Williams, Iowa City, Iowa - "This was a big match, I've wrestled him before, but whenever you compete against foreign teams, it's always big. The competition is here on our turf, so it's nice to win for the U.S. I just try to wrestle my best and take it one match at a time." 85 kg - Charles Burton, Bloomington, Ind. - "I'm still not feeling good on offense, I messed up my back a little bit in the first match. I need to commit to my shots more and try to improve from here." 130 kg - Kerry McCoy, Bethlehem, Pa. - "I couldn't have done it without the other guys on the team. The other winners gave me the opportunity to to come through for the team, and that's what I did. Everyone went out and gave 100 percent. Some guys were hurt and pulled it out, or lost a match but scored critical points for the team." U.S. National Freestyle Coach Kevin Jackson, Colorado Springs, Colo. - "We are very excited about the win. We stayed in the match as a team the whole time, but we got down right away which made it hard. Joe Williams turned things around for us, and Charles Burton held in there with his back injury. Dominic Black scored a point on a world champion and we knew Kerry could win, and just were wishful thinking that he would pin the guy. Kerry is a big-time guy and that was a big-time win. Now we have to re-focus for tomorrow and put this behind us." 2001 U.S. World Cup Assistant Coach Zeke Jones, Morgantown, W. Va. - "This was a great win for us. The guys worked really hard. We technically could have wrestled better, but it was an overall success. Now we have to put this on the shelf and get ready for tomorrow."