TEHRAN – In the hopes of taking home the most prestigious team title in wrestling, defending world champion Russia and host Iran have entered a combined seven Olympic champions for the 2014 World Cup of Greco-Roman Wrestling in Tehran.

Russia and Iran will square off with eight of the top 10 teams in the world over two days of competition for a chance at the biggest team prize in wrestling.

The most important dual meet competition of the year features the top 10 teams from the 2013 World Championships -- Russia, Iran, Korea, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia, Finland, Kazakhstan and the United States.

All of the countries have sent full squads with many of the teams including Olympic and world champions of their own.

The competition is organized in two preliminary groups of five teams each. The teams face each other in a round-robin format within each group with the group-stage winners wrestling for the team gold and runners-up wrestling for the team bronze.

Group A will be led by defending world team champion Russia who bring World No.1 Adam KURAK (66kg) and World No.2 Nikolai MELNIKOV (98kg) to Tehran in the hopes of repeating their World Cup triumph of 2013. Their line-up will also feature gold medalists from three different Olympic Games: Roman VLASOV (75kg) and Alan KHUGAEV (85kg) from London 2012 as well as 60kg winner from Beijing 2008 Islam Beka ALBIEV (66kg) and Aleksei MISHIN (85kg) from Athens 2004.

Hungary is the only country qualified for the World Cup with two wrestlers currently top-ranked in the world with Tomas LORINCZ (71kg) and Peter BACSI (80kg) both sitting atop their respective weight classes in the most recent FILA World Rankings.

Kazakhstan is fresh off their first Asian Championships team title in Greco-Roman since 2004, winning at home in Astana, while Turkey is led by two-time former world champion Selcuk CEBI (80kg) and Cenk ILDEM (98kg), both second-ranked in the world.

The United States squad is led by No. 20 Robert SMITH at 130kg.

Iran leads Group B with a lineup that London 2012 gold medalists Hamid SORYAN (59kg), Omid NOROOZI (66kg) and Ghasem REZAI (98kg) as well as 2013 world champion Taleb Nariman NEMATPOUR (85kg).

Korea, second to Russia as a team in the 2013 World Championships, features world champions RYU Han-Soo (66kg) and KIM Hyeon-Woo (75kg) as well as world runner-up CHOI Gyu-Jin (59kg). [Pre-Finals1_2]

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. World No.1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (98kg) who recently won his third consecutive European Championship, leads Armenia but is still questionable for the competition.

Meanwhile, a resurgent Azerbaijan will bring Hasan ALIYEV (66kg) who is second-ranked in FILA’s latest poll. Finland’s Rami HIETANIEMI (85kg) is ranked No.3 in the world and will look to help that Nordic country win its first team medal since 1993.

--

Russia

Russians head coach Gogi KOGUSHVILI has entered his nation’s best wrestlers in the hopes of defending their team title. Four Olympic champions compete for Russians during Tehran world Cup including 2012 Olympic champions Roman VLASOV (75kg) and Alan KHUGAEV (85kg) as well as Olympic and world champion Aleksi MISHIN (85kg), 2013 World runner up and Beijing Olympic champion Islam Beka ALBIEV (66kg). Rustam TOTROV (98kg) a 2012 Olympic silver medalist enrich Russian roster.

Nikita MELNIKOV (98kg) established himself as a good successor for former Olympic champion Aslanbek KHUSHTO. Melnikov repeated Alexander Bezruchkin's title to achieve first Russia world gold medal at 97kg since 2001. He’s currently ranked No.2 in the world.

London 2012 bronze medalist Mingiyan Semenov (59kg) and 2013 World silver medalist Ivan Kuylakov (59kg) are other top wrestlers which make Russia a powerful contender in the 2014 World Cup.

Hungary

With a pair of Olympic and world medalists Hungary will be looking to make a statement in 2014 as a team in contention. Olympic silver medalist and two-time European champion Tomas LORINCZ (71kg), Balazs KISS a 2013 world bronze medalist (98kg), 2013 world bronze medal winner Victor LORINCZ (85kg) join World No.1 Peter BACSI (80kg) as some of Hungary’s top entries.

Azerbaijan

Azeri's champions and Iranian-born wrestlers make this team interesting for the wrestling fans especially for Iranians.

After a yearlong absence 2012 Olympic silver medalist Rovshan BAYRAMOV(59 kg) returns to the mat. Also entering the arena on Thursday is Hasan ALIYEV a 2010 world champion comes back to 66kg after winning 71kg silver medal at 2014 European championships.

Iranian-born Saman TAHMASEBI has moved up to 98kg after winning the silver medal at 85kg in Budapest last year. Tahmasebi, a 2006 and 2007 World bronze medalist for Iran represented his birth country at the 2008 Olympics, but left in 2009 to seek citizenship in Azerbaijan. Sabah SHARIATI is another Iranian who has moved to Azerbaijan.

It is for the first time that these two Iranian wrestlers compete inside Iran as wrestlers for Azerbaijan.

Iran

After winning three gold medals at Olympic Games, most of the Iranian champions took off the 2013 season. They’re now back on the mats and looking in old form.

Hungarian Grand Prix winner and six-time World and Olympic champion Hamid SORYAN (59kg) leads the Iranians in front of their home crowd. The Iranians will also get support from Soryan’s fellow London Olympic champions Omid NOROOZI (66kg) and Ghasem REZAI (98kg). The addition of 2013 world champion Taleb NEMATPOUR (85kg) make the host country powerful.

Korea

KIM Hyeon-Woo (75kg) enters the World Cup as the best wrestler in the Korean lineup. Kim has not defeated to any wrestlers in world or continental events for the past two years winning the 2012 Olympic gold medal at 66kg as well as 2013 world gold medal at 74kg and two Asian championships.

RYU Han-Su (66kg) is a 2013 world champion and world silver medalist Choi Gyu-Jin (59kg) joins veteran JUNG Ji-Hyun (71kg) form a competitive team for Koreans in 2014 world cup. JUNG is Athens Olympic champion who came back to win 2014 Asian championships title after about two year's absence.

Turkey

European silver medalist Cenk ILDEM (98kg) leads a young Turkish team into Tehran. Assisted by 2013 world junior champion Serif Kilic (59kg) and world junior silver medalist Enes BASAR (66kg) Turkey will tries to establish themselves in senior level as world No.1 Reza KAYAALP (130kg) and world No.2 Selcuk CEBI are absent from Turkey's roster.

Kazakhstan

Danial GADZHIAV (85kg) boasts the best resume on Kazakhstan squad. The Russian-born wrestler has moved to Kazakhstan from 2012 and succeeds to win Olympic bronze medal.

World University Games bronze medal winner Askhat ZHABIROV(66kg) and 2010 Asian Games bronze medalist Alkhazur OZDIYEV (80kg) are also included in Kazakh team lineup.

USA

USA coaching staff has selected most of the World Cup team members from Dave Schultz memorial tournament. Forming talented team, Kendrick SANDERS (71kg), Andy BISEK (75kg), Jordan HOLM (85kg) and Robby SMITH (130kg) all won title at Dave Schultz memorial.

Two Dave Schultz tournament bronze medalists Ravaughn PERKINS (71kg) and Geordan SPEILLER (80kg) compete in Tehran as well.

Nordic team (Finland, Lithuania & Estonia)

Three wrestlers from Lithuania and Estonia help a Finnish team that placed ninth at 2013 World Championships to qualify for the World Cup.

When Amir Ali AKBARI (IRI) tested positive at the 2013 World Championships, Heiki Nabi(EST) was awarded gold medal. Veteran Nabi also won the 2006 world gold medal as well as London Olympic Games silver medalist.

Armenia

Armenia arrives in Tehran with some young and talented wrestlers in 2013 World junior champion Karapet CHALYAN (75kg) and two 2011 world junior champion Narek KHACHTARYAN (59kg) and Rafik MANUKYAN (80kg) step on mat in Tehran.

Vachagan YEGHIAZARYAN (130kg) a 2013 European bronze medalist is the most experienced wrestler for Armenia.

World Cup team rankings since 2010:

2013: 1- Russia 2- Iran 3- Turkey 4- Armenia

2012: 1- Iran 2- Turkey 3- Korea 4- Azerbaijan

2011: 1- Iran 2- Russia 3- Belarus 4- Azerbaijan

2010: 1- Iran 2- Turkey 3- Armenia 4- Russia

2014 World Cup Schedule

Thursday, May 15

10:00 – Sessions 1-2

16:00 – Opening Ceremony

16:45 – Sessions 3-4-5

Friday, May 16

10:00 Finals 9/10 – 7/8 – 5/6

18:00 Finals 3/4 – 1/2

21:00 Award Ceremonies

21:30 Official Banquet

World Cup Format

The World Cup of Greco-Roman Wrestling is a team competition where only the ten top finishing teams of the previous year’s World Championships receive invitations. The teams contest the event in a dual meet format where one country’s team matches up against another, and a single competitor from each team, in each weight class, face off in a single bout.

The eight bouts of each dual meet occur in order of the following weights: 59kg, 66kg, 71kg, 75kg, 80kg, 85kg, 98kg and 130kg.

For every bout won, a team earns a single point, and the team with the most points at the end wins the meet. The following criteria determine the winner in the case of a tied meet:

1. The total classification points

2. The most victories by fall, default, forfeit or disqualification

3. The most victories by superiority

4. The most technical points scored during the individual matches

5. The fewest technical points given during the individual matches

6. The outcome of the last individual match

Top three teams receive prize money as follow:

1st team: $ 30,000

2nd team: $ 15,000

3rd team: $ 10,000