CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, SWITZERLAND – FILA President Nenad Lalovic drew the names of eight countries from a black bag on Thursday, and in doing so helped set the field for the 2014 Greco-Roman World Cup being held May 15-16 in Tehran.
Group A will be lead by defending world team champion Russia and is joined by Hungary, Kazakhstan, Turkey and the United States. Russia will bring World No.1’s Adam KURAK (66kg) and World No.2 Nikolai MELNIKOV (98kg) to Tehran in the hopes of challenging for the World Cup title.
Hungary is the only country with two wrestlers ranked No.1 in the world with Tomas LORINCZ (71kg) and Peter BACSI (80kg) both sitting atop their respective weight classes.
Kazakhstan is fresh off their first Asian Championship in Greco-Roman since 2004, winning the title at home last month in Astana while Turkey is lead by World No.1 heavyweight Riza KAAYALP (130kg) and World No.2’s Selcuk CEBI (80kg) and Cenk ILDEM (98kg).
The United States squad is lead by two-time world bronze medalist Justin LESTER (66kg).
Group B is topped by powerhouse Korea, who placed second as a team in the 2013 World Championships. The Korean team is lead by defending world champions RYU Han-Soo (66kg) and KIM Hyeon-Woo (75kg) and supported by World No.12 CHOI Gyu-Jin (59kg.)
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Finland each bring world-level competitors to the World Cup and will face each other on the first day of the competition. Armenia is lead by World No.1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (98kg) who recently won his third consecutive European Championship. Meanwhile a resurgent Azerbaijan will bring World No.2’s Hasan ALIYEV (66kg) and the dangerous Rasul CHUNAYEV (71kg) to Tehran to help fight for a team medal. Finland’s Rami HIETANIEMI (85kg) is ranked No.3 in the world and will look to help that Nordic country win it’s first team medal since 1993.
Host Iran will also be joining Group B. Their team could include World No.1 Taleb Nariman NEMATPOUR (85kg) and 2012 Olympic Champion Hamid SORYAN (59kg) though their official team roster has yet to be determined.
FILA will also be providing previews, results and Livestream coverage of the 2014 Greco-Roman World Cup on both May 15 and May 16.
