This coming weekend, the Team USA Greco-Roman Seniors will be competing at the Tbilisi Grand Prix in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Tbilisi Grand Prix (officially called the Tbilisi Grand Prix of V. Balavadze and G. Kartozia) could certainly be considered of the most challenging and competitive international tournaments on the docket. Many of the best wrestlers from Eastern Europe and around the world are expected to be present, making the event an important warm-up for the 2017 World Championships in Paris a little over two months from now. Following this event, the US Greco-Roman team will be heading over to Hungary for an intensive training camp before returning stateside for the final push to Paris.
By and large, the athletes competing at the 2017 Tbilisi Grand Prix make up the entire US World Team. The two notable exceptions are Alex Sancho (71 kg, NYAC-OTS) and Nick Tarpley (75 kg, NYAC). Tarpley has been living and training in Croatia for some months now but has appeared in several overseas events with various US delegations. His most recent performance was a sixth-place finish at the World Team Trials. Sancho, one of the most promising and athletic wrestlers in the country, lost a grueling three-round series to now-two-time World Team member and 2012 Olympian Ellis Coleman (Army/WCAP) in the World Team Trials finals. In addition, 2017 US World Team member G’Angelo Hancock (NYAC, world no. 18) will not be making the trip and no other athletes at 98 kilograms are competing for the US.
Team USA Roster — 2017 Tbilisi Grand Prix, Tbilisi, Georgia June 10th-11th
59 kg
Ildar Hafizov (Army/WCAP)
2017 Results: Armed Forces Championships gold medalist, Thor Masters gold medalist, Grand Prix of Zagreb 12th, US World Team Trials champion
66 kg
Ellis Coleman (Army/WCAP)
2017 Results: Armed Forces Championships gold medalist, 4-0 at Thor Masters (withdrew due to injury), US World Team Trials champion
71 kg
Patrick Smith (Minnesota Storm)
2017 Results: Grand Prix of Paris 13th, Thor Masters bronze medalist, US World Team Trials champion, Pan Am Championships gold medalist
Alex Sancho (NYAC-OTS)
2017 Results: Dave Schultz Memorial silver medalist, 5th at Thor Masters, Grand Prix of Zagreb gold medalist, runner-up at US World Team Trials
75 kg
Mason Manville (Army/WCAP)
2017 Results: US World Team Trials champion
Nick Tarpley (NYAC)
2017 Results: Thor Masters 11th, Grand Prix of Zagreb 6th, Kristjan Palusalu Memorial bronze medalist, US World Team Trials 6th
80 kg
Cheney Haight (NYAC)
2017 Results: Dave Schultz Memorial 5th, Thor Masters 6th, Grand Prix of Zagreb 5th, US World Team Trials champion, Pan Am Championships gold medalist
85 kg
Ben Provisor (NYAC)
2017 Results: Dave Schultz Memorial gold medalist, Thor Masters 7th, Grand Prix of Zagreb 5th, US World Team Trials champion, Pan Am Championships gold medalist
130 kg
Robby Smith (NYAC, world no. 20)
2017 Results: Thor Masters gold medalist, US World Team Trials champion, Pan Am Championships bronze medalist
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