Olympics 2012 wrestling: Varner wins gold for US

London: 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