World Championships preview in Greco-Roman at 75 kg/165 lbs.

Mason Manville will compete in his first Senior World Championships later this month in Paris, France

Date of competition: Monday, Aug. 21
With the 2016 Olympic gold and silver medalists expected to move up a weight, the race for the 75 kg/165 lbs. title at the 2017 World Championships in Paris, France, has gotten a little bit more interesting.
Because two-time Olympic champion, two-time World champion and 2013 World silver medalist Roman Vlasov will go up to wrestle at 80 k/176 lbs., Russia will give the nod to Aleksandr Chekhirkin at 75 kg.
Ranked No. 12 in the world, Chekhirkin has won two tournaments this summer, including Russia Nationals and Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Cup. Back in January, he secured silver at the Ivan Poddubny Tournament.
2016 Olympic silver medalist Mark Madsen is also expected to make a weight change in Paris, so Denmark will send Rajbek Bisultanov, who won bronze at Thor Masters and Nordic Championships this year. He also boasts several international silver medals from well-respected events such as 2016 Thor Masters, 2016 Grand Prix of Hungary and Arvo Haavisto Cup.
2016 Olympic bronze medalists Hyeon-Woo Kim of Korea and Saeid Abdvali of Iran will be in the mix in Paris.
Gearing up for his fifth trip to the World Championships, Kim is a 2012 Olympic champion, 2013 World champion and a 2011 World bronze medalist. He owns more than 10 international gold medals, proving he has what it takes to win the weight again.
Kim has not competed internationally since the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Abdvali could be the one standing in Kim’s way as the 2011 World champion and 2013 World champion. He has helped lead the Iranian Greco-Roman World Cup squad to several team titles over the years. This year, Iran took third at the event. It is the only competition Abdvali has participated in since the Olympics.
Armenia will give the nod to 2014 World champion and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Arsen Julfalakyan. Besides his 2014 gold, Julfalakyan has three other World medals, including a silver from 2010 and bronzes from 2011 and 2013.
After finishing 13th at the 2016 Olympics, the Armenian has only wrestled in one individual tournament, the Kristjan Palusalu Memorial, which he won.
2017 European champion and world No.5 Tarek Abdelslam with be the guy for Bulgaria at 75 kilos. Abdelslam is a 2013 Junior World bronze medalist and has competed in three Senior World Championships. He’s entered one other event in addition to the Euro Championships since the Olympics, seeing action at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov Tournament, where he won silver.
2014 World bronze medalist Tamas Loerincz will compete in his ninth World Championships for Hungary. In all eight of his World Championships appearances, Loerincz posted top-10 finishes, with his most recent outing resulting in ninth in 2015. He also boasts a 2014 University World title.
Since competing at the 2016 Olympics, where he finished 16th, the Hungarian won the Grand Prix of Hungary in March and followed up the championship performance with bronze medals at the European Championships, G. Kartozia & V. Balavadze Price tournament and Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Cup.
Mason Manville is the U.S. representative at the weight and will wrestle in his first Senior World Championships later this month. However, it won’t be Manville’s first time on the World level. He went to the 2014 Cadet World Championships in both freestyle and Greco and went on to win the Cadet Freestyle World crown. Later that year, Manville advanced to the finals of the 2014 Youth Olympic Games and went home with silver.
JULY UWW GRECO-ROMAN WORLD RANKINGS
1. Roman VLASOV (RUS)
2. Mark MADSEN (DEN)
3. KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR)
4. Saeid Mourad ABDVALI (IRI)
5. Tarek ABDELSALAM (BUL)
6. Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS)
7. Tamas LORINCZ (HUN)
8. Kilov KAZBEK (BLR)
9. Karapet CHALYAN (ARM)
10. Viktor NEMES (SRB)
11. Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE)
12. Aleksander CHEKHIRKIN (RUS)
13. YANG Bin (CHN)
14. Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
15. Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM)
16. Maksat YEREZHEPOV (KAZ)
17. Narek OGANIAN (RUS)
18. Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
19. Yurisandi HERNANDEZ RIOS (CUB)
20. Furkan BAYRAK (TUR)
2017 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TOP SEEDS
1. Roman Vlasov (Russia)
2. Bin Yang (China)
3. Mark Overgaard Madsen (Denmark)
4. Hyeonwoo Kim (Korea)

RECENT WORLD AND OLYMPIC RESULTS
2016 Olympic Games
75 kg/165 lbs. – Gold – Roman Vlasov (Russia); Silver – Mark Overgaard Madsen (Denmark); Bronze –Hyeon-woo Kim (Korea); Bronze – Saeid Morad Abdvali (Iran); Fifth – Bozo Starcevic (Croatia); Fifth – Peter Basci (Hungary); Seventh – Elvin Mursaliyev (Azerbaijan); Eighth – Viktor Nemes (Serbia); Ninth – Bin Yang (China); Tenth – Doszhan Kartikov
2015 World Championships
75 kg/165 lbs. – Gold – Roman Vlasov (Russia); Silver – Mark Madsen (Denmark); Bronze – Andy Bisek (United States); Bronze – Doszhan Kartikov (Kazakhstan); 5th – Saeid Morad Abdvali (Iran); 5th – Elvin Mursaliyev (Azerbaijan); 7th – Bozo Starcevic (Croatia); 8th – Peter Basci (Hungary); 9th – Arsen Julfalakyan (Armenia); 10th – Hyeon-Woo Kim (Korea)
2014 World Championships
75 kg/165 lbs. – Gold – Arsen Julfalakyan (Armenia); Silver – Neven Zugaj (Croatia); Bronze – Andy Bisek (USA); Bronze – Elvin Mursaliyev (Azerbaijan); 5th – Hiroyuki Shimizu (Japan); 5th – Zurabi Datunashvili (Georgia); 7th – Gurpreet Singh (India); 8th – Juan Escobar (Mexico); 9th – Dmytro Pyshkov (Ukraine); 10th – Yavor Yankiev (Bulgaria)
2013 World Championships
74 kg/163 lbs. – Gold –Hyeon-Woo Kim (Korea); Silver - Roman Vlasov (Russia); Bronze –Arsen Julfalakyan (Armenia); Bronze - Emrah Kus (Turkey); 5th - Mark Madsen (Denmark); 5th - Veili-Karri Suominen (Finland); 7th - Mykola Daragan (Ukraine); 8th - Bin Yang (China); 9th – Esengeldi Kozhobek Uulu (Kyrgyzstan); 10th - Rafik Huseynov (Azerbaijan)
2012 Olympic Games
74 kg/163 lbs. – Gold - Roman Vlasov (Russia); Silver - Arsen Julfalakyan (Armenia); Bronze - Aleksandr Kazekevic (Lithuania); Bronze - Emin Ahmadov (Azerbaijan); 5th - Mark Madsen (Denmark); 5th - Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Belarus); 7th - Zurabi Datunishvili (Georgia); 8th - Christophe Guenot (France); 9th - Robert Rosengren (Sweden); 10th - Neven Zugaj (Croatia)
2011 World Championships
74 kg/163 lbs. – Gold - Roman Vlasov (Russia); Silver - Selcuk Cebi (Turkey); Bronze - Neven Zugaj (Croatia); Bronze - Arsen Jufalakyan (Armenia); 5th - Robert Rosengren (Sweden); 5th - Askhat Dilmukhamedov (Kazakhstan); 7th - Jure Kuhar (Slovenia); 8th - Péter Bacsi (Hungary); 9th - Farshad Alizadeh Kalehkeshi (Iran); 10th - Ionel Puscasu (Romania)
2010 World Championships
74 kg/163 lbs. – Gold – Selcuk Cebi (Turkey); Silver – Arsen Julfalkayan (Armenia); Bronze – Daniar Kobonov (Kyrgyzstan); Bronze – Emil Sharafedinov (Russia); 5th – Rafik Husenyov (Azerbaijan); 5th – Takehiro Kanakubo (Japan); 7th- Roman Melyoshin (Kazakhstan); 8th – Nevan Zugaj (Croatia); 9th – Jure Kuhar (Slovenia); 10th – Christophe Guenot (France)
2009 World Championships
74 kg/163 lbs. - Gold - Selcuk Cebi (Turkey); Silver - Mark Madsen (Denmark); Bronze - Aliaksandr Kikiniov (Belarus); Bronze - Farshad Alizadeh Kelehkeshi (Iran); 5th - Konstantin Schneider (Germany); 5th - Rafik Huseynov (Azerbaijan); 7th - Henri Valimaki (Finland); 8th - Christophe Guenot (France); 9th - Jakhongir Muminov (Uzbekistan); 10th - Evgeny Popov (Russia)