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.    97 kg Greco-Roman World Championships Preview    Claiming the Olympic title in Sydney was Sweden's Mikael Ljungberg, also a 1993 and 1995 World Champion. Ljungberg was not listed as the entry for Sweden, and he did not compete in the European Championships this year, so it is a good bet that he won't be competing at the World Championships.    Ljungberg defeated 1998 World bronze medalist Davyd Saldadze of Ukraine in the finals in Sydney. Saldadze is not listed as an entry for Ukraine, either, so both Olympic finalists may not even be in the field. One of the Ukrainian entries is 1996 Olympic Champion Vyacheslav Olenyk, who actually dropped down to 85 kg for the Sydney Olympic Games. Olenyk is probably a "tweener." He won his Olympic title at 90 kg, and is perhaps too big for 85 kg but not big enough for 97 kg.    Claiming the 2000 Olympic bronze medal was young American Garrett Lowney, a 1999 Junior World Champion. Lowney defeated five-time World Champion Gogi Koguachvili of Russia in the early rounds in Sydney, launching him with a memorable five-point throw in overtime. Lowney's only loss came in the semifinals, when Ljungberg dropped him on his head, but the game Lowney came back to win the bronze medal in spite of the injury to his neck.    The delay of the World Championships could affect Lowney's preparation, since he is a college student at the Univ. of Minnesota and will be into the NCAA college season if the event is held in late November or December. The question is how the mix of folkstyle and freestyle might affect his performance.    Kogouachvili is expected to return, and is one of those listed on Russia's roster. It would not be surprising to see Kogouachvili well prepared and motivated. American fans would love to see another Lowney vs. Kogouachvili match, especially if it was for the gold medal. If it is not Kogouachvili, it will be 2001 European Champion Alexander Bezroutchine or Denis Shakaya.     Konstantions Thanos of Greece placed fourth in Sydney, the best performance of his career. Among those who placed in the top 10 at the Olympics and are expected at the World Championships are Genadi Chkhaidze of Georgia, Sergey Matvienko of Kazakhstan, Urs Buergler of Switzerland, Mindaugas Ezerskis of Lithuania and Sergei Lishtvan of Belarus. Any of these athletes could be in contention and qualify for the medal rounds.    Marek Svec of the Czech Republic was a 1998 World silver medalist. Other veteran stars include Ali Mollov of Bulgaria, Mirko Englich of Germany, Petru Sudureac of Romania and Marek Sitnik of Poland. Mollov was second in the 2001 European Championships and Sudureac was third at the European meet.     The 2001 Pan American Championships gold medalist was young Ernesto Pena of Cuba, who defeated Lowney in the gold-medal finals. The 2001 Asian Champion was Aleksey Cheglakov of Uzbekistan, with Iran's Rasoul Jazini  winning the silver medal. Korea's veteran Park Woo was fourth at the Asian Championships.    Among the new challengers are Roman Meduna of Slovakia, who was fourth in the European Championships and Mehmet Ozal of Turkey, who placed fifth in the Europeans.    This weight class, which has been dominated by established stars such as Ljungberg and Kogouachvili in recent years, is open for a new set of heroes. Lowney has a chance to identify himself as the top star of the future here if he can follow up his Sydney heroics with another medal. However, there is a field full of other tough competitors who would like to make their mark this year, with an eye towards the 2004 Athens Olympics.     GRECO-ROMAN 97 kg/213.75 lbs. (32 athletes as of 9/14)  Australia - Reza Rostami  Belarus -  Siarhei Listhvan or Aljaksandr Sidarenka  Bosnia/Herzogovina - Adnan Husnija Crncevic  Brazil- Antoine Jaoude  Bulgaria - Ali Mollov  Canada - Jaime Cox  Cuba - Ernesto Pena  Czech Republic - Marek Svec  Egypt - Karam Mohammed Gaber  Estonia - Vello Parnpuu  Finland  - Jari Kortesmaki  Georgia - Genadi Chkhaidze or Ramaz Nozadze  Germany - Mirko Englich  Greece - Konstantinos Thanos or Georgios Koutsioubas  Hungary - Bela Kalo  India - Satish Kumar  Iran - Rasoul Jazini or Masoud Hashemzadeh  Italy - Yusuke Morikaku  Kazakhstan - Sergey Matvienko  Korea - Park Woo  Lithuania - Mindaugas Ezerskis  Poland - Marek Sitnik  Romania - Petru Sudureac  Russia - Alexander Bezroutchine, Gogi Kogouashvili or Denis Shakaya  Slovakia - Roman Meduna  Sweden - Jimmy Lidberg  Switzerland - Urs Burgler  Tajikistan- Keim Mallaev  Turkey - Mehmet Ozal, Serkan Ozden or Mustaf Cetinyurek  Ukraine - Vyacheslav Olenyk or Anriy Popov   United States - Garrett Lowney  Uzbekistan - Aleksey Cheglakov  Yugoslavia - Sasa Dukaji