With the Freestyle World Cup set to take place Saturday and Sunday, host city Los Angeles had an official "Wrestling Day" proclamation this morning at Los Angeles City Hall. On hand were Los Angeles City Council, diplomatic corps of Consul Generals of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia, and wrestling federation leaders of participating countries.
The Freestyle World Cup press conference took place immediately following the proclamation. United World Wrestling President Nenad Lalovic, Chairman of the 2016 World Cup Organizing Committee Andy Barth, USA Wrestling President James Ravannack, Olympic gold medalist Jake Varner and others participated.
The opening ceremony of the Freestyle World Cup is set for 3 p.m. PT on Saturday, with wrestling scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. PT. Iran will be looking for a fifth straight title, and will be competing in an eight-team field that also includes Azerbaijan, Georgia, India, Iran, Mongolia, Russia, Turkey and the United States.
Next year the Freestyle World Cup will move back to Tehran, Iran, where the event was held in 2013. Iran has hosted the past four Greco-Roman World Cups. The World Cup has taken place every year since 1973.
