The 2017 Greco-Roman World Cup begins tomorrow morning at 9:00am in Abadan, Iran (1:30am EST) with coverage beginning bright and early on Trackwrestling.com. The eight best teams on the planet converge but once a year in this prestigious dual meet competition and if we’ve learned anything from the past, the action on the mat promises to be tense, physical, and unrelenting.
Stars are everywhere you look. Olympic and World Champions along with the hottest young talent in the sport will be battling it out for international bragging rights in a format where team goals far surpass those of the individuals. Americans typically love high-stakes team competitions in any sport, so it’s a good idea to think of the 2017 Greco-Roman World Cup just like that. This is Greco’s version of the playoffs, except it isn’t relegated to a single country’s league, but worldwide.
Similar to soccer’s World Cup, wrestling’s version of the event creates incredible drama in other places around the world and there is no better place for this to go down than Iran, where the fans are sure to be vocal and energetic throughout the proceedings. It is Iran’s fifth year in a row hosting the Greco-Roman World Cup and the global power has taken the title five times in the last seven years. Russia and Azerbaijan have managed to sneak in there during that time and this year, both of those teams appear to be in great position to take over again.
Russia’s roster has received a lot of fanfare due to its inclusion of monsters like two-time World and Olympic champ Roman Vlasov (75 kg, world no. 1), 2016 Olympic gold medalist Davit Chakvetadze (85 kg, world no. 1), and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Sergey Semenov (130 kg, world no. 3). Russia’s high-powered lineup figures to be the strength of Group A competition and there is little doubt the other three teams in their pool know it.
Group B features a well-balanced Azerbaijani team that while short in the Olympic gold medal department, offers high-profile problems just the same. 30 World medals including four world golds and four Olympic medals overall highlight what looks like the class of this field. Two-time Olympic silver medalist Rovshan Bayramov will set the tempo at 59 kilograms while the aggressively acrobatic Rasul Chunayev (71 kg) provides the bridge to the country’s fearsome middle and upper weights.
Turkey could present a challenge in certain match-ups for Azerbaijan. From 66 kg, where former age-group stud Enes Basar can be found all the way up to the duo of 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Cenk Ildem (98 kg) and of course, three-time Olympian and two-time Senior World Champion Riza Kayaalp (130 kg, world no. 2).
If you are a devout Greco fan or really, just a fan of wrestling period, the 2017 Greco-Roman World Cup is an event you’re going to want to pay attention to. With national pride on the line and the best athletes in the world going at it, it doesn’t get any better than this.
2017 Greco-Roman World Cup — Complete Rosters
Group A
Russia — Two guys in each weight except for 66 and 14 out of 15 currently ranked in the top 20, with most in the top ten. Tough to compete with. These dudes want revenge.
59 kg
Mingiyan Semenov (world no. 6)
Stepan Maryanayan (world no. 14)
66 kg
Artem Surkov (world no. 8)
71 kg
Abuyazidov Mantsigov (world no. 10)
Yuri Denisov (world no. 9)
75 kg
Roman Vlasov (world no. 1)
Genghis Labazanov (world no. 9)
80 kg
Ramadan Abacharaev (world no. 1)
Adlan Akiev (world no. 13)
85 kg
Davit Chakvetadze (world no. 1)
Eugene Saleev (world no. 9)
98 kg
Musa Yevloyev (world no. 6)
Maxim Safaryan (world no. 13)
130 kg
Sergey Semenov (world no. 3)
Boris Weinstein
Iran — The host country is going to have to get some a lot of surprises in order to advance.
59 kg
Mohsen Hajipour (world no. 13)
Mohammad Nourbakhsh
66 kg
Ali Arsalan
Amin Seid Souri
71 kg
Afshin Byabangard (world no. 7)
Mohammadali Abdolhamid Geraei
75 kg
Saeid Abdvali (world no. 4)
Rasoul Garmsiri
80 kg
Ramin Taherisartang (world no. 8)
Yousef Ghaderian
85 kg
Mahdi Fallahhmidabadi
Hossein Nouri
98 kg
Mahdi Aliyari Feyzabadi (world no. 10)
Seyedmostafa Salehizadeh
130 kg
Amir Ghasemi (world no. 19)
Benham Aryatapeh
Germany — Two of the world’s best wrestlers, Frank Staebler (66 kg, world no. 7) and Denis Kudla (85 kg, world no. 3) aren’t on the roster, but there are hard-edged athletes here who will fight.
59 kg
Christoph Kraemer
66 kg
Erik Weiss
71 kg
Timo Badusch (world no. 17)
Maximilian Schwabe
75 kg
Florian Neumaier
80 kg
Pascal Eisele (world no. 9)
85 kg
Ramsin Azizsir
98 kg
Oliver Hassler
Peter Oehler
130 kg
Eduard Popp (world no. 6)
Christian John
Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan is not a contender in this tournament, as they have chosen to go with depth over experience.
59 kg
Zhanserik Sarsenbiyev
Aidos Sultangali
66 kg
Daniyar Kalenov
71 kg
Demeu Zhadrayev (world no. 17 at 66 kg)
75 kg
Tamerlan Shadukayev
Maxat Yerezhepov
80 kg
Daulet Zhaxylykov (world no. 19)
85 kg
Azamat Kustubayev
98 kg
Alimkhan Syzdykov
130 kg
Damir Kuzembayev
Group B
Azerbaijan — Russia is the favorite to win the whole thing while Azerbaijan is in great position to win Group B. They won’t have enough firepower to overcome Russia in a final, but the journey there should be exciting.
59 kg
Rovshan Bayramov (world no. 8)
Taleh Mammadov
66 kg
Kamran Mammadov
Azad Aliyev
71 kg
Rasul Chunayev (world no. 3 at 66 kg)
Hasan Aliyev (world no. 3)
75 kg
Elvin Mursaliyev (world no. 7)
Islambek Dadov
80 kg
Rafik Huseynov (world no. 7)
Emin Ahmadov
85 kg
Islam Abbasov (world no. 7)
Arif Niftullayev
98 kg
Araz Hasanov
Orkhan Nuriyev
130 kg
Sabah Shariati (world no. 4)
Turkey — You know what you’re getting with this bunch — solid attacks and some pleasant risk-taking maneuvers. Turkey could be a roadblock in group competition.
59 kg
Hammet Rustem
Mustafa Saglam
66 kg
Atakan Yuksel
Enes Basar
71 kg
Yunus Ozel
Ilker Sonmez
75 kg
Emrah Kus
80 kg
Aslan Atem (world no. 2)
85 kg
Metehan Basar
98 kg
Cenk Ildem (world no. 4)
Suleyman Demirci
130 kg
Riza Kayaalp (world no. 2)
Belarus — Once again, a country teeming with talent is choosing to expose some of its younger wrestlers to the bright lights. We’ll see if it pays off later in these wrestlers’ careers, but it won’t this week.
59 kg
Maksim Kazharski
66 kg
Yaraslau Kardash
71 kg
Andrei Dziambitski
75 kg
Tsimur Berdyiue
80 kg
Pavel Paminchuk (world no. 16)
85 kg
Goga Gagnidze
98 kg
Siarhei Staradub
130 kg
Kiryl Hyrshchanka
Ukraine — With 2016 Olympic runner-up Zhan Belenyuk (85 kg, world no. 2) out of the mix, Ukraine lacks a bonafide star to lead the charge.
59 kg
Zhora Abovian
66 kg
Parviz Nasibov
71 kg
Ruslan Israfilov
75 kg
Mykola Daragan
Artem Matiash
80 kg
Dmytro Pyshkov
85 kg
Iurii Shkriuba
98 kg
Volodymyr Vasilyev
130 kg
Oleksandyr Chernetskyy (world no. 7)
Mykola Kuchimi