11 Nations to Compete in Isfahan

Isfahan will host the 4th edition of World Wrestling Clubs Cup in Greco-Roman category on December 14-15.

Up to December 11, ten countries officially declared their attendance. Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Romania, Tajikistan, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Hungary are sending their teams to the event,  Varzesh3.com reported.

As host, Iran will attend the tournament with three Greco-Roman teams namely, Bimeh Razi (Razi Insurance Company), Sina Sanat Eizeh (Sina Industries of Eizeh) and Shohada-e Modafe-e Haram (Martyrs of Shrine Defenders).

World and Olympics champions are seen in the combination of Sina Sanat and Bimeh Razi teams.

World champion Maksim Manukyan from Armenia is in Sina Sanat in the 80kg class. He has the 2017 Paris World Championships title.

Also 2016 Rio Olympics silver winner and 2015 Las Vegas World Championships gold winner Zhan Beleniuk, is in the Sina Sanat team. The Ukrainian has gold medals from the 2014 Vantaa, Finland, and 2016 Riga, Latvia, European Championships. Beleniuk is in the 85kg category.

For the Bimeh Razi team, Saeed Abdevali goes on the mattress in the 75kg category. He stood third in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Gold medals from the 2011 Istanbul World Championships and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Championships are among his honors.

Another wrestler in the same category is Roman Vlasov form Russia. He has filled his trophy shelf with golden medals from the 2016 Rio Olympics, 2012 London Olympics, 2011 Istanbul and 2015 Las Vegas World Championships plus 2012 Belgrade and 2013 Tbilisi European championships.

The World Wrestling Clubs Cup in Greco-Roman category was first set to be held in Kashan City, Isfahan Province, but the venue shifted to Tehran only to finally end up in Isfahan.

 Past Winners

Three Iranian clubs have conquered the past three editions of the World Wrestling Clubs Cup in Greco-Roman category.

At the previous edition of the games in Budapest, Hungary, 2016, Sina Sanat came first in which Bimeh Razi finished third.

Bimeh Razi won the title for the second edition in Khorramshahr in Khuzestan Province, 2015.

Pastor Andimeshk team was the winner of the first edition of the competition in Abadan in Khuzestan Province, 2014. World Wrestling Clubs Cup is an international wrestling clubs competition among teams representing member nations of the United World Wrestling, the sport’s global governing body. The tournament was first organized following a proposal from the Iran Wrestling Federation in 2014.