Pool pairings released for the first men's freestyle Olympic Qualification Tournament

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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
01/30/2004


Bratislava, Slovakia - Pool pairings have been released for the first of two Olympic qualification tournaments in freestyle wrestling. The tournament dates have been moved up by one day. Competition will take place Jan. 31-Feb. 1.    Names of foreign competitors are not yet available. TheMat.com will post complete results when they do become available.    The U.S. still must qualify the 66 kg/145.5 lbs. and 74 kg/163 lbs. weight classes for the 2004 Olympic Games. Competing for the U.S. at the first qualification tournament are Chris Bono (Gilbert, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. and Joe Williams (Iowa City, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) at 74 kg/163 lbs.    Bono will have a bye in the first round and then face Sergei Demtchenko of Belarus. Demtchenko placed fourth in the 2000 Olympic Games and has competed in five World Championships.    Bono will then meet Raska Ahto of Estonia. The winner of his pool will advance to the quarterfinals against the winner of Pool 8 between an athlete from Uzbekistan, Buren Diaz of Spain and Djamshed Abdulloev of Tajikistan.    Williams will also have a first-round bye before facing Nate Ackerman of Great Britain (who wrestled at Harvard). He will then square off against Habib Mohmed of Qatar.    The winner of Williams' pool will advance to the quarterfinals and face the winner of Pool 7 between Romania, Panama and Virgin Islands wrestlers.    In order to qualify the weight class for the 2004 Olympic Games, wrestlers must place in the top five at their respective weight class.    Wrestlers qualifying for the Olympic Games only qualify their weight class for their nation. Olympic Team athlete selection varies by country. Positions on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams will be determined at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Wrestling in Indianapolis, Ind., May 21-23.      Men's Freestyle Olympic Qualification Tournament  at Bratislava, Slovakia  Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2004  66 kg/145.5 lbs.  Pool 1 (winner advances to qualification round vs. Pool 2 winner):  TBA, Peru  TBA, Venezuela  Dumitru Socaline, Israel    Pool 2 (winner advances to qualification round vs. Pool 1 winner):  Laszlo Szabolor, Romania  TBA, South Africa  Vadim Naniyev, Kazakhstan    Pool 3 (winner advances to qualification round vs. Pool 4 winner):  A, Nlyazmongliev, Turkmenistan  TBA, Great Britain  TBA, Mexico    Pool 4 (winner advances to qualification round vs. Pool 3 winner):  Ljuhzim Verenzi, Macedonia  TBA, Algeria  Elman Azgarov, Azerbaijan    Pool 5 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 6 winner):  Lucjan Gralak, Poland  TBA, Iran  Kryziu Ermal, Albania    Pool 6 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 5 winner):  Ramesh Kumar, India  Salvis Pudovs, Latvia  Norjin Bayarmagnai, Mongolia    Pool 7 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 8 winner):  Sergei Demtchenko, Belarus  Raska Ahto, Estonia  Chris Bono, United States    Pool 8 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 7 winner):  TBA, Uzbekistan  Buren Diaz, Spain  Djamshed Abdulloev, Tajikistan    Pool 9 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 10 winner):  Scafiti Orazio, Italy  Peter Engelhardt, Germany  TBA, Senegal  Ibrahim Selloum, France    Pool 10 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 9 winner):  O. Cubukci, Turkey  TBA, Sweden  Arshak Hayrapetyan, Armenia  Baek Jim-Kuk, Korea      74 kg/163 lbs.  Pool 1 (winner advances to qualification round vs. Pool 2 winner):  Carlos Dominguez, Spain  Ivan Todorov, Bulgaria  TBA, Yemen    Pool 2 (winner advances to qualification round vs. Pool 1 winner):  Daniel Igali, Canada  TBA, Uzbekistan  TBA, Ukraine    Pool 3 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. qualification round winner):  Mchedlidze, Georgia  TBA, Sweden  Ivan Diaconu, Moldova    Pool 4 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 5 winner):  TBA, South Africa  Janis Leisa Vnieks Latvia  TBA, Israel    Pool 5 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 4 winner):  Cho Byung-Kwan, Korea  TBA, Cuba  Anthony Lefeez, France    Pool 6 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 7 winner):  Nate Ackerman, Great Britain  Habib Mohmed, Qatar  Joe Williams, United States    Pool 7 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 6 winner):  Eugen Preda, Romania  TBA, Panama  TBA, Virgin Islands    Pool 8 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 9 winner):  Dennis Blch, Germany  Krystian Brzozowski, Poland  Adam Bereket, Turkey    Pool 9 (winner advances to quarterfinals vs. Pool 8 winner):  TBA, Slovakia  Salvator Rinella, Italy  Garsivan Yardanyan, Armenia    The Slovakian Wrestling Federation has set up a web page that has information on these championships. To follow the action, visit:  http://www.zapasenie.sk/olympic/main.htm