TEHRAN, Iran – The United States won its first two duals meets in Group B of the Freestyle World Cup on Thursday.

Team USA stopped Georgia and Japan by identical 5-2 margins.

2012 Olympic champion and 2011 World champion Jordan Burroughs (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids) won his first two matches, defeating Jakob Makarashvili of Georgia, 3-0, 2-1 and Sohsuki Takatani of Japan, 2-0, 7-0.

Other Americans winning two times were 2009 World bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev (Columbus, Ohio/Sunkist Kids) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. and Brent Metcalf (Iowa City, Iowa/New York AC) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

The United States has two more duals in the second session on Thursday, facing Bulgaria and Iran. Also going 2-0 in the first session was host Iran.

In Group A, Russia won both of its matches for the morning session.

The third session is underway. Team USA had a bye in round 3, but have two more bouts after that.

The pool competition concludes on Thursday, with the medal rounds set for Friday. There have been sell-out crowds at the Azadi Sports Arena all week for the World Cup.

Update from Iran from Mitch Hull

The Freestyle World Cup Team completed the first session of the World Cup with 5-2 wins over both Georgia and Japan. The first match was against the Georgian Team and was led off by a hard fought win at 55kg by Obe Blanc. In the 60kg match Coleman Scott lost both periods 1-1. The Georgian earned a takedown in the last 10 seconds in the first period and then was awarded a reversal at the end of the second period. The Georgians challenged the call after the second period initially went to Scott 1-0. It was difficult to tell on the review if the reversal happened before time ran out but in the end the referees reversed their original call and awarded the point. 

Brent Metcalf then went out and earned a two period victory after defensively holding off the Georgian in a first period clinch. Jordan Burroughs then scored a solid two period victory. followed by a two period win by Max Askren. In an entertaining second period Max built a 5-0 lead with a takedown and 2 turns but the Georgian scored a takedown and then a 3 point takedown to close the gap to the final score of 5-4. JD Bergman lost his match in 2 periods with a high scoring first period. JD was down 2-0 when he earned a takedown and a 2 point gut wrench but was reversed in that position and held for a 5 count that made the score 5-3. The second period was again close with JD giving up 2 additional points at the end of the period trying to get the 2 points needed to win the period. Tervel Dlagnev closed out the match with a 2 period win securing the 5-2 Team win.
 
In the second match The USA went down to Japan 2-0 with losses by Blanc and Jimmy Kennedy. Brent Metcalf then started the winning for the USA with a solid match and win for Team USA. Jordan Burroughs went out and won his match winning in two period closing out the second period 7-0. Phil Keddy represented the USA at 84kg and wore out his opponent with a three period win. Keddy lost a close 1-0 first period but continued relentless pressure in periods 2 and 3 to close out the win. Bergman followed at 96kg and shut down his opponent 6-0 and 3-0. Dlagnev finished off the match with a low ankle takedown that he move up the body and earned a fall in the first minute of the match.
 
Team USA will participate in Opening Ceremonies this afternoon and will have a bye in the third round. This will be followed by the featured dual of the day versus Iran. This will likely be the dual that will determine who will face the champion of the other pool. This will likely be Russia as they are currently 2-0 on the day. The USA will still have another match in the pool versus Bulgaria but it has yet to be determined if that dual will be competed on Thursday evening or Friday morning.

* Filed after the first session.
 
FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
At Tehran, Iran, February21, 2013

FIRST SESSION

GROUP B DUALS

USA 5, GEORGIA 2
55 kg – Obe Blanc (USA) dec. Givi Davidori (Georgia), 1-0, 1-0
60 kg – Malkaz Kurdiani (Georgia) dec. Coleman Scott (USA), 1-1, 1-2
66 kg – Brent Metcalf (USA) dec. Malkhaz Zarkua (Georgia), 2-0, 1-0
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Jakob Makarashvili (Georgia), 3-0, 2-1
84 kg – Max Askren (USA) dec. Nodar Egadze (Georgia),1-1, 5-4
96 kg – Tedore Ebanoidze (Georgia) dec. J.D. Bergman (USA) 6-4, 5-2
120 kg – Tervel Dlagnev (USA) dec. Tornike Khidesheli (Georgia), 2-1, 1-0

USA 5, JAPAN 2
55 kg –Fumitaka Morishita (Japan) dec. Obe Blanc (USA), 4-0, 1-0
60 kg –Shogo Maeda (Japan) dec.  Jimmy Kennedy (USA), 1-0, 1-0
66 kg – Brent Metcalf (USA) dec. Toshinori Ishida (Japan), 0-1, 2-0, 3-0
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs (USA) dec. Sohsuke Takatani (Japan), 2-0, 7-1
84 kg – Phillip Keddy (USA) dec. Shinya Matsumoto (Japan), 1-2, 1-0, 2-0
96 kg –J.D. Bergman (USA)dec. Takeshi Yamaguchi (Japan), 7-0, 3-0
120 kg – Tervel Dlagnev (USA) pin Tomoyuki Oka (Japan)

Other Group B duals
Iran 6, Bulgaria 1
Iran 7, Japan 2

GROUP A DUALS
Russia 6, Azerbaijan 1
Belarus 4, Turkey 3
Russia 7, Kazakhstan 0
Azerbaijan 4, Belarus 3