China will be replacing the Hungary in the 8 nation Greco-Roman world cup beginning in Tehran, Iran from 28th November. According to a report in the Iran Wrestling Federation official website, China will be playing the Greco-Roman world cup as team from Hungary pulled out at the last minute. The global governing body for the sport of wrestling, United World Wrestling (UWW) is yet to officially declare the development.
The Greco-Roman world cup is only restricted to top 8 ranked nations of the world. Hungary finished at number 7 in the world championships team rankings hence qualified for the Greco-Roman world cup. China only won 1 medal at the world championships in Greco-Roman category and finished at number 17th in the world rankings. So it is surprising that China has been announced as replacement for Hungary to participate in the Greco-Roman world cup. As per the rankings, the place at the world cup should have either gone to 9th ranked Armenia or to 10th ranked Germany. So China’s inclusion for the Greco-Roman world cup will surely be questioned in the wrestling circles. China will be playing the world cup first time after gap of 10 years. The last time China played in the Greco-Roman world cup was in 2009.
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China’s inclusion weakens Group B
The inclusion of not too strong China in the Greco-Roman world cup will make the life of other Group B teams little easy. The Group B will now have 2nd ranked Uzbekistan, 3rd ranked Georgia, 6th ranked Japan & 17th ranked Chinese team.
Group A: Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Cuba
Group B: Uzbekistan, Georgia, Japan, China
On the other hand Group A looks very balanced and strong with world champions Russia, 5 time champion and host Iran, strong Kazakhstan and Cuba teams in the group.
Watch the entire action of the Greco-Roman world cup LIVE & EXCLUSIVE on WrestlingTV.in
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