A quick review of the draw in men’s Greco-Roman wrestling at 60 kg, 74 kg, 96 kg
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
08/25/2004
Note: An athlete must win the pool competition in order to advance into the championship bracket and remain eligible for a medal. 60 kg/132 lbs. For a weight class with 22 entries, this division is very light with past champions and medallists at the World level. The blind draw spread the talent around well, making it mostly a balanced draw. This could be a weight where some "unknowns" make breakthrough at these Olympics. Instead of looking at the strongest pools, we will start from the top and work down. Pool 1 features 1996 Olympic champion Wlodziemierz Zawadzki of Poland, who has been a World silver medalist since moving down to this division. Looking to push him are Korea's Jung Ji Hyun and Azerbaijan's Vitaly Rahimov, neither of which could place in the top 10 in the world. Pool 2 features Jim Gruenwald of the United States, who was fourth in the world last year and has four straight top 10 finishes at the World level. His top pool challenger could be Eusebiu Diaconu of Romania, who was third at the 2003 World meet. Gruenwald was hurt in the World semifinals last year and was supposed to wrestle Diaconu for the bronze but had to take an injury default. Pool 3 features the best wrestler in the draw and perhaps on the planet, two-time Olympic champion and two-time World champion Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria. The unlucky people to draw Nazarian are Ashraf Elgharably of Egypt and Olexandr Khvoshch of Ukraine. Pool 4 is perhaps the least competitive, with the top individual being Makoto Sasamoto of Japan facing Davor Sasamoto of Serbia Montenegro and Sidney Guzman of Peru. Pool 5 features Akaki Chachua of Georgia, a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist.. His opponents will be Paolo Fucile of Italy and Nurlan Koizhaiganov of Kazakhstan. Pool 6 has no big stars. Jurij Kohl of Germany was 10th in the World last year. Alexey Shevtsov of Russia was fourth in the Europeans this year. China's Ai Linuer was added to the field when one of the qualifying nations reportedly had a positive drug test. Pool 7 has four wrestlers, and some good talent. The top star is Roberto Monzon of Cuba, the 2003 World silver medalist and two-time World bronze medalist. Turkey's Seref Tufenek and Ali Askani of Iran are also veterans who are well respected. The fourth in the pool is Christos Gikas of Greece. This was a good draw in regards to keeping the big stars apart. It will lead to some great quarterfinals and semifinals. 74 kg/163 lbs. Somehow, this division also had its top stars spread apart into different pools. If the known stars work through their pools, then the quarterfinals and semifinals will be very interesting. Pool 1 features perhaps the best athlete in the draw, two-time Olympic champion and past World champion. Filiberto Azcuy of Cuba. Neither of his opponents are prominent, either Choi Duk Hoon of Korea or Radoslaw Truszkowski of Poland. Pool 2 has some good talent, including 1997 World champion Marko Yli-Hannuksela of Finland and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata of Japan. Also in the pool is Daniar Kobonov of Kyrgyzstan. The top name in Pool 3 is Aliaksandr Kikiniou of Belarus, who was sixth in the 2003 World Championships. His opponents both needed to qualify through the Olympic Qualifying events Saiyinjiya of China and Reto Bucher of Switzerland. Pool 4 features Danil Khalilov of Kazakhstan, who was fourth in the 2003 World Championships. His opponents are not as well known, Yasha Manasherov of Israel and Alberto Recuero of Spain. Pool 5 features four athletes, and is the toughest of the pools. 2000 Olympic champion Varteres Samourgachev of Russia is looking to return to the top. Konstantin Schneider of Germany was a 2003 World silver medalist. Volodymyr Shatskykh of Ukraine was fifth in the World last year. Also in this draw is Sweden veteran Mohammad Babulfath. Pool 6 also has four athletes, none who are stars but all who have solid experience. This could be a tossup, with Vugar Aslanov of Azerbaijan, Alexios Kolitsopoulos of Greece, Alexandr Dokturishivili of Uzbekistan and Tamas Berczicza of Hungary all looking to advance. The U.S. did not qualify to compete at this weight class, the only division in the entire wrestling draw (all 18 weights) that does not feature an American wrestler. 96 kg/211.5 lbs. This weight class has one pool that is way overloaded, and a few others with some intriguing matchups. The overloaded pool is on top, Pool 1. It features the defending World champion Martin Lidberg of Sweden, plus five-time World champion Gogi Koguashvili of Russia and 1996 Olympic silver medalist Siarhei Lishtvan of Belarus. This may be the toughest pool yet in these Olympic Games. Koguashvili has never won an Olympic medal, so he will be especially motivated. Pool 2 also has some good talent, with 2000 Olympic silver medalist Davyd Saldadze of Ukraine and 2003 World bronze medalist Ramaz Nozadze of Georgia. Also stuck in this pool is veteran Mirko Englich of Germany, 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Garrett Lowney is in another tough pool, Pool 6. He must face 2001 World silver medalist Ernesto Pena of Cuba, who has done well against U.S. wrestlers in the past. Also in this pool is Lajos Virag of Hungary. The other pools have some individual talents. Pool 7 has four athletes, led by two-time World silver medalist Karam Ibrahim (Gaber), one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch. Veterans Marek Sitnik of Poland and Asset Mambetov of Kazakhstan will also be joined by a host athlete, Goergios Kutsioumpas of Greece. The top talent of Pool 3 is Genadi Chhaidze of Kyrgysztan, who was the 2004 Asian champion. His opponents are wildcard John Tarkong of Pelau plus Bulgaria's Kaloyan Dinchev, a replacement for injured veteran Ali Mollow. The top name in Pool 4 is 1995 World silver medalist Petru Sudureac of Romania. A talented young athlete is Masoud Hashemzadeh of Iran. Mindaugas Ezerskis of Lithuania was eighth in the 2000 Olympics. The star in Pool 5 is 2002 World champion Mehmet Ozal of Turkey. His opponents will be Alesey Cheglakov of Uzbekistan and Igor Kostins of Latvia. It will be interesting to see if the winner of that monster pool one, Koguachvili/Lidberg/Lishtvan, will have anything left to get through the quarterfinals and matches beyond that.