OLYMPIC GAMES Icho, Aleksanyan are big stars in other weights
Tuesday, August 16 is the third day of Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and competition will be held at 66 kg and 98 kg. The United States did not qualify to compete in Rio at these weight classes. Wednesday, August 17 is the first day
of women’s freestyle at the Rio Olympics, with 48 kg, 58 kg and 69 kg on tab. The United States qualified Haley Augello to compete at 48 kg, but does not have
entries at the other two weights that day. USA Wrestler will provide previews in these other four weight classes.
GRECO-ROMAN 66 KG There have been three different World champions at this weight class over this Olympic cycle, with Frank Staebler of Germany the 2015 champion, Davor Stefanek of Serbia the 2014 champion and Han-Su Ryu of Korea the 2013 champion. All will be seeking their first Olympic title. Staebler had a strong effort at the 2015
Worlds in Las Vegas, and adds a bronze medal from the 2013 World Championships. He was fifth at the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2011 and 2014 World Championships. Ryu of Korea was the World silver medalist in 2015 behind Staebler, making him another strong gold-medal hopeful. Stefanek has also been a strong con-
tender from many years, winning a bronze medal at the 2015 Worlds. He competed in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and was a 2015 Junior World champion.
Expected field at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. GR Algeria - Tarek Aziz Benaissa Armenia - Migran Artyunyan Australia - Vinod Kumar Azerbaijan - Rasul Chunayev Cuba - Miguel Martinez Egypt - Adham Kahk Finland - Tero Vaelimaeki Georgia - Shmagi Bolkvadze Germany - Frank Staebler Hungary - Tamas Lorincz Iran - Omid Haji Noroozi Japan - Tomohiro Inoue Korea -Ryu Hansu Kyrgyzstan - Ruslan Tsarev Lithuania - Edgaras Venckaitis Romania - Ion Lulian Panait Russia – Islambek Albiev or Artem
Surkov Serbia - Davor Stefanek Venezuela - Wuileixis de Jesus Rivas
24 USA Wrestler Russia’s Artem Surkov was a 2015
World bronze medalist. They may enter Islambek Albiev, a 2008 Olympic champi- on and 2013 World silver medalist who won the 2016 Russian Nationals. Omid Noroozi of Iran was the Olympic champion at 60 kg in 2012, and has moved up to 66 kg, where he was a 2014 World silver medalist. Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan was the
2015 World champion at 71 kg, but has dropped to 66 kg where he will seek the Olympic gold. Tamas Lorincz of Hungary won a 2012 Olympic silver medal and added a World bronze medal in 2014. Edgardas Venckaitis of Lithuania was a 2014 World bronze medalist at this weight class. Placing fifth at the 2015 Worlds were
Rarek Benaissa of Algeria and Migran Arutyunyan of Armenia. Olympic Qualifier champs included Wuileixis Rivas of Venezuela (Pan Am), Tomohiro Inoue of Japan (Asia) and Adham Kahk of Egypt (African/Oceania).
GRECO-ROMAN 98 KG Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia has been
one of the most consistent stars at the weight class, winning the last two World gold medals with a powerful style of wrestling. Aleksanyan was also the 2013 World silver medalist and a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist. His top challenger could be 2012 Olympic champion Ghasem Rezaei of Iran, who was second at the 2015 World Championships and third at the 2014
Expected field at 98 kg/215 lbs. GR Algeria - Hemza Haloui Armenia - Artur Aleksanyan Belarus - Aliaksandr Hrabovic Bulgaria - Elis Guri China - Di Xiao Cuba - Yasmany Lugo Egypt - Hamdy Abdel Wahab Estonia - Ardo Arusaar Georgia - Revazi Nadareishvili Hungary - Adam Varga India - Hardeep Iran - Ghasem Gholamreza Rezaei Italy - Daigoro Timoncini Romania - Alin Alexuc Ciurariu Russia - Islam Magomedov or Nikita Melnikov Sweden - Carl Fredrik Schoen Turkey - Cenk Ildem Ukraine - Dimitriy Timchenko Venezuela - Luillys Jose Perez
Three-time Olympic champion and 10- time World champion Kaori Icho of Japan. Tony Rotundo photo.
World Championships. The 2013 World champion was Nikita Melnikov of Russia, who was also a 2015 World Military champ. Islam Magomedov was third at the 2015 World Champion- ships and won the 2016 Russian Nationals and could get the Rio nod. Bulgaria’s Elis Guri was a World cham-
pion in 2011 and was fifth at the 2015 Worlds. Dmitry Timchenko of Ukraine was a 2015 World bronze medalist. Alin Ciurariu of Romania placed fifth at the 2015 World Championships. Winning the Asian Olympic Qualifier
was Di Xiao of China, while Yasmany Lugo of Cuba won the Pan American Olympic Qualifier and Ardo Arusaar won the European Olympic Qualifier. Add in Egypt’s Hamdy Abdelwahab, the Africa/Oceania Qualifier champion.
WOMEN’S FREESTYLE 58 KG One of the greatest wrestlers in history, three-time Olympic champion and 10-time World champion Kaori Icho of Japan, seeks a record fourth-Olympic gold. She won most of her golds at 63 kg, but when they changed to six Olympic weights for women, she came down and won the last two World titles at 58 kg. Until she is beaten at this level, she is the favorite. Winning silvers behind Icho have been Petra Olli of Finland in 2015 and Valeria
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