London, Aug 12 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Jacob Varner grappled to the gold medal for the United States in the Olympic men's 96kg freestyle wrestling here at the ExCel Arena Sunday, beating Valerii Andriitsev in the final.

Varner, who won bronze at last year's World Championships, scraped the win on points, taking each of the first two periods 1-0 with minimum-scoring throws for a 3-0 overall win.

The south Caucasus region claimed both bronzes as Georgia's George Gogshelidze and Azerbaijan's Khetag Gazyumov took the medals.

In the first bronze medal match, Gogshelidze fought back from losing the first period to beat Uzbekistan's Kurban Kurbanov 3-1 on points.

Azerbaijan's Gazyumov claimed the second bronze medal by default against Iran's reigning World Champion Reza Mohammed Yazdani, who was injured.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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