Cuba unable to compete in Concord Cup due to Visa problems

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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
01/31/2003


Cuba will not be able to compete in the 2003 Concord Cup in Concord, Calif. due to Visa problems. Cuba became the fourth team to drop out of this year's tournament.    Egypt, Russia and Turkey also dropped out of the tournament due to problems with gaining Visas to enter the U.S.    "I'm very disappointed," tournament director Bill Martell stated. "We had planned on a World-class event and we can still have that to some degree. But with the Visa problems that all these countries have had, there is really nothing we can do."    "I was looking at this as a key event for us," USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser stated. "We had some unusual circumstances behind the event this year that I think affected those teams coming. Hopefully it is something we can get straightened out in the future."    Competing in this year's Concord Cup will be three U.S. teams as well as teams from Uzbekistan and Japan. The tournament format does not allow for the U.S. teams to compete against each other, and even with the unusual circumstances this year, that format will not change.    "Uzbekistan and Japan are very good. We feel we can get some very good matches in there. But the U.S. teams will not wrestle each other this year. Those guys see each other enough in training and other U.S. tournaments," Martell said.    The U.S. teams will wrestle the foreign teams twice each, giving each U.S. team four matches and each international team seven matches. A system for team scoring for this year's Concord Cup is currently being resolved.    Despite the issues, Martell is certain that the future of the Concord Cup will not be affected by the problems that plagued the event this year.    "We just hope that the war is over by next year. Greco-Roman wrestling needs this event," he said.