Note: TheMat.com has resumed its series of previews for the 2001 World Championships. Although it has not yet been determined when and where the event will be hosted, the tournament is expected to be held this year. Those athletes listed as entries for the event originally scheduled for New York City will be used in these previews.    85 kg Greco-Roman World Championships Preview    Two-time Olympic champion Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey is one of the world's best.  Besides winning Olympic golds in Atlanta and Sydney, Yerlikaya won World titles  in 1993 and 1995 and a World silver medal in 1997. He was the youngest World  Champion in history, claiming his first World title at the age of 17, and is  still young enough to add more titles to his list of achievements. Yerlikaya  claimed the 2001 European Championships title, an indication that he remains  motivated and serious about remaining at the top of the game.    Yerlikaya defeated Sandor Bardosi of Hungary in the 2000 Olympics gold-medal  bout. Winning the Olympic bronze medal was Mukhran Vakhtangadze of Georgia.  These were career-best performances for both athletes, and it may be difficult  for them to remain in the medals against a very talented field.    The 2000 Olympic gold and silver medalists from 76 kg, Russia's Mourat Kardanov  and Matt Lindland of the United States, have moved up in weight and become  immediate medal contenders. Both have the size and skill to successfully compete  against the larger competitors. Lindland has competed for many years at 85 kg   in early-season competitions, and has done very well. His ability to beat a pair  of U.S. Olympians this year, Quincey Clark and Dan Henderson, shows that he has  already made a smooth transition.    Kardanov is a question mark, as Russia listed three possible participants at  this weight class. 1998 World Champion Alexander Menshikov could be the choice,  although he did not get out of his pool at the 2001 European Championships.  Alexander Moldashev is the other Russian possibility.     The 1999 World Champion was Luis Mendez of Cuba placed sixth in the Sydney  Games, including an early win over American Quincey Clark in the pools. Mendez  beat Clark again in the finals of the 2001 Pan American Championships. He has  the power and the explosive skills to once again battle for the medals.    Valeri Tsilent of Belarus, Gotcha Tsitsiachvili of Israel and Martin Lidberg of  Sweden were among the top performers at the Sydney Olympics. Tsitsiachvili and  Lidberg are past World medalists and are expected to offer strong challenges.  Israel was not scheduled to compete in the World Championships in New York, due  to a scheduling conflict with a religious holiday, but may be involved in the  World meet at a new date.    Claiming a silver medal at the 2001 European Championships was Marcin Letki of  Poland, and the bronze medal was claimed by Alexander Dorogan of Ukraine. Both  nations listed another possibility on their initial rosters, but these European  medalists are expected to be the choice.    All three of the 2001 Asian Championships medalists are on their nation's  rosters for the World Championships: gold medalist Bae Man-Ku of Korea, silver  medalist Shingo Matsumoto of Japan and bronze medalist Evgeniy Erofaylov of  Uzbekistan.    One of Iran's possible entries is Behrooz Jamshidi, who had his bronze medal at  the 1999 World Championships stripped after a positive drug test. Jamshidi has  served his two year suspension, and would be eligible at the Worlds this year.  Raatbek Sanatbayev of Kyrgyzstan moved into the bronze medal that year after the  positive test, but Kyrgyzstan had not indicated that it would have competed in  New York. At a rescheduled World meet, it is possible that Sanatbayev might  attend.    Tomi Rajamaki of Finland, Kut Dietrich of Germany, Theofanis Anagnostou of  Greece and Dimitar Stoyanov of Bulgaria are other athletes who could potentially  move out of the pool competition and battle in the brackets.    As in other recent years, Turkey's superstar Hamza Yerlikaya is the favorite  coming in. However, as recently as the 1999 World Championships, Yerlikaya did  not place in the top 10 (losing to American Quincey Clark in the pools) and  other talented stars stepped up and excelled. With the addition of perhaps two  Olympic medalists from 76 kg, as well as a number of other past World-level  medalists, this weight class offers some outstanding talent and perhaps some  great early matchups.    GRECO-ROMAN 85 kg/187.25 lbs. (33 athletes as of 9/14)  Belarus - Viachaslau Makaranka or Valery Tsylents  Bosnia/Herzogovina - Irfan Salko Muhic  Brazil - Marcelo Santos  Bulgaria- Dimitar Stoyanov or Vladislav Metodiev  Canada - Victor Sprenger  China - Chen Ziaofei  Cuba - Luis Mendez  Czech Republic - Filip Soukup  Egypt - Mohammed Ibrahim Abdelfattah  Estonia- Toomas Proovel  Finland - Tomi Rajamaki, Matti Hamalainen or Tuomo Karila  Georgia - Mukhran Vakhrangadze  Germany - Tim Nettekoven, Baris Baglan or Kut Dietrich  Greece  - Theofanis Anagnostou  Hungary - Sandor Bardosi  India - Yogesh Dodke  Iran - B. Jamshidi or Mahdi Rahimi  Japan - Shingo Matsumoto  Korea - Bae Man-Ku  Latvia - St. Shamota  Netherlands - J. Van De Pol or Raymond Baumann  Poland - Marcin Letki or Marek Szustek  Romania - Adrian Florescu  Russia - Alexander Menshikov, Alexander Moldashev or Mourat Kardanov  Slovakia - Atilla Batky  Sweden - Martin Lidberg  Tajikistan - Khusniddin Mallaev  Tunisia - Amor Bach Hamra  Turkey - Hamza Yerlikaya, Tekin Gaglar or Hamdi Eraskankilic  Ukraine - Oleksandr Daragan or Igor Bugai  United States - Matt Lindland  Uzbekistan - Evgeniy Erofaylov  Yugoslavia - Bojan Mijatov or Aleksandar Jovancevic