Greco-Roman wrestling
Last year, the Russian Greco-Roman wrestling team set an incredible bar for all rivals. She obeyed six of the ten possible world championship gold medals, despite the fact that two-time Olympic champion Roman Vlasov did not participate. This year, five holders of gold medals will defend their titles anew, and instead of Alexander Chekhirkin, who won the weight up to 77 kg, Vlasov will try to do it.
The return of the 28-year-old native of Novosibirsk can be called the main event of the World Cup in Nur-Sultan. After the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he was constantly unlucky in these competitions. That Vlasov lost in the first round, then withdrawn from the competition due to knee surgery. This season he returned to a high level, having won the Russian Championship, European Championship and German Grand Prix, and suffered the only defeat in the tournament finals in Bulgaria from a local fighter.
However, Vlasov had not yet had the opportunity to meet his main rival, South Korean Kim Hyun-woo, who heads the sowing. Meetings with the 2017 world champion Viktor Nemesh and Hungarian Tamas Lorenz can also be dangerous for the Russians. All three were on the last year’s podium and now got the sowing, so Vlasov will have to fight his way to the finals from the very first bouts.
Fans and the return of Arthur Aleksanyan will look forward to. The Armenian wrestler won all the major tournaments from 2014 to 2017, until at the last World Cup he was defeated by Russian Musa Yevloyev in the semifinals of the weight category up to 97 kg. After that, he refused to fight for bronze, citing an injury. This season Aleksanyan was not active, having won only the tournament in Almaty and the European Games. Yevloyev, on the other hand, won the European Championship and two more international starts, deservedly winning leadership in the world ranking. The draw drew two wrestlers in different halves of the grid, so that they can only meet in the final.
The most difficult thing to defend the championship title will be heavyweight Sergey Semenov. A year ago, he was lucky to avoid a meeting with the Turk Ryza Kayaalp, who unexpectedly lost in the first round, but now the silver medalist of the Olympic Games will try not to blame him like that. In addition, the great Michael Lopez Nunez, a three-time Olympic champion from Cuba, is returning to Nur Sultan. This will be his first appearance at the World Cup since 2015, when he lost to Kayaalpu in the final. Since then, Lopez did not suffer a single defeat, but rarely pleased with his participation. This season, he only recorded his victory at the Pan American Games. Kayaalp won the European Championship, and Semenov in those competitions was content with bronze.
The most powerful category will be up to 67 kg. The first two numbers of the ranking were occupied by the last two world champions - South Korean Ryu Han Su and Russian Artyom Surkov. A native of Saransk was defeated twice by an Asian fighter, but in the finals he may try to take revenge. True, an obstacle for them can become two rivals at once. German Frank Stöbler dropped from the non-Olympic weight category to 72 kg and will try to win the World Cup for the fourth time. And the Cuban Ismael Borreno, the Olympic champion in the weight category up to 59 kg, will try to gain a foothold in the heavier category for the second time. A year ago, he did not even reach the quarter-finals.
In the weight category up to 87 kg, the rivalry of the Ukrainian Jean Beleniuk and the Turkish Metekhan Bashar, who won the last two world championships, winning in the finals including an opponent from Kiev, is of principle importance. This year, Beleniuk has a real chance to take revenge, since he won the European Championship and European Games, and Bashar never won medals. The “dark horse” in this Olympic category will be the undefeated junior Alexander Komarov, who specially gained five kilograms to compete for a license in Tokyo.
The title in the lightest Olympic category up to 60 kg so far belongs to Sergei Emelin. But he will have enough rivals, also applying for gold. First of all, this is the 2017 world champion Kenichiro Fumita from Japan. Then comes Korean Kim Sung Gak, who has not yet won big victories, but won three ranking tournaments in a row this season. Finally, there is Moldovan Viktor Chobanu, who in the final of the last European Championship took revenge against Emelin for last year's silver of the World Cup.
In four non-Olympic categories of Greco-Roman wrestling, preliminary fights have already taken place. Vitaly Kabaloev, who weighs up to 55 kg, has not lost a single fight this season, but in the quarterfinals of the World Cup he lost to Georgian Nugzari Tsurtsumiya, who was already giving gold to the youth championship of the planet. He only had to fight for bronze along with last year's world champion Eldeniz Azizli. Without a medal in the weight category up to 82 kg, Adlan Akiev will remain, losing in the 1/8 finals to the 2017 world champion Maxim Manukyan from Armenia.
But the Russian national Greco-Roman wrestling team has already secured two medals. Stepan Maryanian remained in non-Olympic weight up to 63 kg to defend the world title. To do this, he can only defeat the silver medalist of the Olympics in Rio Sinoba Ota. Neither last season nor this Marianyan has not yet failed. Also, at least silver was won by Abuyazid Mantsigov in weight up to 72 kg. For gold, he still needs to defeat Aram Vardanyan, representing Uzbekistan.
Freestyle wrestling
At the freestyle wrestling tournament, again the most anticipated duel will be a super battle between Olympic champions Abdulrashid Sadulaev from Russia and Kyle Snyder from the USA. Two years ago, a native of Dagestan was defeated in the final, but took revenge after 12 months. This season, they are again considered the undisputed leaders in the weight of up to 97 kg, but have not yet met among themselves. In Nur-Sultan, their battle should be the decoration of the entire World Cup.
Wrestlers from Russia and the USA will confront each other in the category up to 74 kg. During his career, Jordan Burroughs won six World Cup medals, four of which are gold, but a year ago he was left without a title after meeting with Zaurbek Sidakov. The Russian then defeated two-time world champion Frank Chamiso, representing Italy, and in the final broke the resistance of the Georgian Avtandil Kenchadze. Since then, 23-year-old Sidakov has not suffered a single defeat, having won the Yarygin Grand Prix, the World Cup and the European Games. Burroughs won two rating tournaments and two continental ones.
In the weight category up to 125 kg, fans will face the confrontation between the Turkish Takhi Akgyul and the Georgian Geno Petriashvili. For two, they won one Olympics and five world championships. Hardly anyone would stop them from meeting in the finals. Russia in this form will be represented by three-time champion Bilal Makhov who has not returned to sport and not Anzor Khizriev, winner of the European Games, but less well-known Alan Khugaev, namesake of the 2012 Olympic champion.
World champion under 86 kg David Taylor from the United States will miss the tournament in Nur Sultan due to an injury at a charity event, so that the path to gold will be open for Olympic champion from Iran Hassan Yazdani. Its main competitors will be the Turkish Fatih Erdin, who reached the finals a year ago, and the young Russian Arthur Naifonov. He already has the gold of the European Championship, and he won a place in the full-time dispute with Dauren Kurugliev, who lost a year ago to both Taylor and Yazdani.
Gadzhimurad Rashidov has already won enough silver medals in non-Olympic weight up to 61 kg, so by the World Cup he decided to get four kilograms to compete for a ticket to Tokyo. First of all, he will be opposed by the owner of the next Olympic Games Takuto Otoguro. A year ago, he became a champion at the age of 19, and now many lightweight wrestlers dream of meeting him. Rashidov should also be wary of Azerbaijani Hadji Aliyev, who has won all European tournaments this season with one wicket.
In the lightest Olympic weight category of freestyle wrestling, Zaur Uguyev remains the leader, although he did not play much this season, and was content with bronze at the European Games. If he returned to the same level when he won the world championship with a knee injury, then he should not be afraid of European champion Suleiman Atla from Turkey, neither 2017 world champion Yuki Takahashi from Japan, nor Nurislan Sanaev, who will be the main hope of Kazakhstan in the home championship of the world.
In the non-Olympic weight categories, the Russian team will be represented by Magomedrasul Idrisov (up to 61 kg), David Baev (up to 70 kg), Haji Nabiev (up to 79 kg) and Alikhan Dzhabrailov (up to 92 kg). It is difficult to call them favorites in their scales, since none of them was among the seeded and has not yet performed at such a high level. Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov could compete, but the bronze medalist of last year’s world championship withdrew due to injury.
Female wrestling
Last year's World Cup was a failure for Russian girls. None of the 40 medals have ever submitted to them, and in the team standings the team has not entered the top ten. Winning prizes and trips to the Olympics this year will be just as difficult, since none of the Russians were among the seeded.
However, there will still be many famous athletes in the team. The two heaviest weight categories up to 72 kg and up to 76 kg were divided among themselves by Olympic champion Natal Vorobyova, who returned to the fight after the birth of a child, and bronze medalist of the Games in Rio Ekaterina Bukina. Both athletes performed quite successfully this season, but they avoided meetings with the favorites of the World Cup.
In weight up to 68 kg, high hopes were associated with two-time European champion and silver medalist of the European Games Anastasia Bratchikova, but at the last moment she injured her shoulder, giving way to two-time world champion among juniors Khanum Velieva. Maria Kuznetsova, who won two bronzes in the continental championships this season, will compete for the Olympic ticket in lighter weight up to 62 kg. She sent the more experienced Inna Trazhukova to the non-Olympic category up to 65 kg.
Over the past two years, European champion Stalvira Orshush will compete in weight up to 53 kg, and Ekaterina Poleshchuk, who competed in the domestic arena, will try to get a ticket to the Olympics in weight three kilograms lighter. In a weight of up to 57 kg after injuries from teammates, Marina Simonyan joined the Russian national team. In two more categories, up to 55 kg and up to 59 kg, Olga Khoroshavtseva and Lyubov Ovcharova will compete with the leaders of women's wrestling.