CRETIEL, FRANCE - The United States advanced two wrestlers, winning 6 of 8 matches through the first day of competition at the 2003 Greco World Championships in Creteil, France.    

Advancing out of pool competition for the U.S. were Brad Vering at 84 Kg and Rulon Gardner at 120 Kg.     

Vering secured top placement in his pool with a 3-0 decision over China's Daxin Li, a decisive tech fall over Sweden's Michael Jauch in 1:43. Vering advances to the next preliminary (1/8th) qualification round Friday morning, where he will face Tuomo Mantyla of Finland.     

Also advancing to the preliminary qualification round was Olympic and World Champion Gardner. Gardner won his pool competition with a 4-0 win over Sweden's Eddy Bengtsson and a 5-2 win over Isreal's Uri Yusiechik. He will face Khassan Baroev of Russia tomorrow morning.    

In first round action, Brandon Paulson handed a 5-0 decision to Kamal Holmatov (UZB). Paulson had a second round bye and fell 5-0 to 2000 Olympic silver medalist and 1999 World Champion Lazaro Rivas of Cuba in his second pool match. Paulson and Rivas met and three times this year with Rivas defeating Paulson all three times, 5-2 at the Pan Am Games, 11-0 at the Titan Games, and 5-0 at the Dave Schultz Memorial International.     

Kevin Bracken suffered a first round pool loss to two-time World Champion In-Sub Kim of Korea. Kim, up 2-1 heading into overtime, was awarded the final point after Bracken unlocked his clinch position. US coaches argued that Kim had released his clinch before Bracken, but officials confirmed the point for Kim ending the match. In the second round Kim defeated Hovannes Kurghinyan (NED) 6-0 to seal the top pool placing. Bracken won his second pool match tech falling Kurghinyan 13-1 in the first period to finish second in his pool.    

The tournament will be wrestled in two groups, 55, 66, 84, and 102 Kgs and 60, 74 and 96 Kg weight classes. The second group completed weighins between sessions today and will begin pool competition Friday morning.    

At 60 Kg Jim Gruenwald will have a bye first round, and will face Laszio Bona (HUN) and Karen Minatjakanyan (ARM) in his pool. TC Dantzler will face Konstantin Schneider (GER) first round and after a second round bye will see Mark Madsen (DEN). Justin Ruiz at 96Kg will battle Igors Kostins (LAT) first round and Marek Sitnik (POL) in pool competition.      

First Pool Round Results  55 KG: Brandon Paulson (USA) dec. Kamal Holmatov (UZB), 5-0  66 KG: In Sub Kim (KOR) dec. Kevin Bracken (USA), 3-1 OT  84 KG: Brad Vering (USA), bye  120 KG: Rulon Gardner (USA) dec. Eddy Bengtsson (SWE), 4-0    Second Pool Round Results  55 KG: Brandon Paulson (USA), bye  66 KG: Kevin Bracken (USA), bye  84 KG: Brad Vering (USA) dec. Daxin Li (CHN), 3-0  120 KG: Rulon Gardner (USA), bye    Third Pool Round Results  55 KG: Lazaro Rivas (CUB) dec. Brandon Paulson (USA), 5-0   66 KG: Kevin Bracken (USA) tech fall Hovannes Kurghinyan (NED), 13-1 at 2:58  84 KG: Brad Vering (USA) tech fall Michael Jauch (SUI), 10-0 at 1:43  120 KG: Rulon Gardner (USA) dec. Uri Yusiechik (ISR), 5-2