ABADAN, Iran (March 16) - The chants of Iranian fans were quieted Thursday evening at the 2017 Greco-Roman World Cup when Russia’s collection of world and Olympic Games medalists defeated the home squad, 5-3, in border city Abadan in southwest of Iran.

Meanwhile, in Group B, 2015 Cup winner Azerbaijan defeated Turkey and Belarus and, with one preliminary dual meet remaining against Ukraine on Friday morning, is the favorite to reach the championship final against Russia at Kowsar Sports Complex.

Russia and Azerbaijan completed the first day with a pair of wins each, while Iran and Germany have a win and a loss in Group A, while Turkey and Ukraine are 1-1 in Group B. Kazakhstan and Belarus were both 0-2 after the first two sessions.

For local fans, the highlight of the first day of action saw defending champion Iran – minus former London 2012 gold medalists Hamid SORYAN, Omid NOROOZI and Ghasem REZAEI – taking a Russian squad that featured Olympic champions Roman VLASOV (75kg) and Davit CHAKVETADZE (85kg).

Mingiyan SEMENOV (59kg), a bronze medal winner behind Soryan in London, and 2015 world bronze medalist Artem SURKOV (66kg) gave Russia the early 2-0 lead but 2015 Asian silver medalist Mohammad Ali GERAEI (71kg) pulled one back for the Iranians alive with a 4-0 victory over 2017 Poddubny champion Abuiazid MANTSIGOV 4-0.

Iran and Russia sent out their top champions at 75kg with two-time Olympic gold medalist Vlasov prevailing over Rio 2016 bronze medalist Saeid ABDVALI, 5-1.

World bronze medalist Yousef GHADERIAN (80kg) kept Iranian hopes alive with a 3-0 win over 2016 world champion Ramazan ABACHARAEV, but Chakvetadze answered with a 9-0 technical fall triumph over Hossein NOURI (IRI) at 85kg.

Seyed MOSTAFA SALEHIZADEH (98kg) notched a 2-0 win over Maksim SAFARYAN to set up a showdown in the 130kg finale, but Rio bronze medalist Sergey SEMENOV forged a 2-1 win over Behnam MEHDIZADEH for the team victory.

“We came to Iran to make up for last year’s defeat in the World Cup final.  The Iranian team was young but motivated and all the matches were tough for us.” said Russia head coach Gogi KOGUASHVILI.

“If you want to win the title, you have to defeat all rivals. I think we will probably face Azerbaijan in the final, but we are favorite to win the title,” the coach added.

The most important dual meet of Group B was in the Thursday morning’s opening session between Azerbaijan and Turkey -- two of the favorites to reach the Friday evening’s championship fina

Azerbaijan was stunned by Turkish wrestlers in the opening bout as two-time Olympic silver medalist and five-time world medalist Rovshan BAYRAMOV was pinned by Hammet RUSTEM in 59kg.

Kamran MAMMADOV (AZE) was cruising to a win at 66kg for Azerbaijan but 2017 Vehbi Emre champion Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) overcame 5-2 deficit with  four-point throw exactly at the final second of the match.

Hasan ALIYEV (71kg) and Elvin MURSALIEV (75kg) pulled Azerbaijan even at 202 as 2010 world champion Aliyev defeated Ilker SONMEZ 1-1 on criteria and European Games champion Murasaliev edged Emrah KUS, 3-1.
 

In 80kg, Aslan ATEM (TUR) downed Rafig HUSEYNOV 4-2 as Turkey moved ahead again, 3-2, but Azerbaijan closed strongly to sweep the final three bouts led by Islam ABBASOV’s 7-0 win over Metehan BASAR at 85kg.

Former junior world champ Orkhan NURIYEV (98kg) was Azerbaijan’s star of the morning session with a 4-3 win over Rio 2016 bronze medalist Cenk ILDEM, giving the 2015 Cup holders a 4-3 lead.

With Rio silver medalist Riza KAYAALP (TUR) on the sidelines, Rio 2016 bronze medal winner Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) secured the team victory, 5-3, with a 2-0 win over Ali Nail ARSLAN (TUR) at 130kg.

Group A

Round 1

Russia df. Kazakhstan, 8-0
Iran df. Germany,  7-1

Round 2

Russia df. Iran, 5-3
Germany df. Kazakhstan, 6-2

Group B

Round 1

Azerbaijan df. Turkey, 5-3
Ukraine df. Belarus, 6-2

Round 2

Azerbaijan df. Belarus 5-3
Turkey df. Ukraine, 5-3

Individual results

Group A

Round 1

RUSSIA (RUS) df. KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ), 8-0

59 kg - Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) df. Zhanserik SARSENBIYEV (KAZ), 3-0
66 kg - Aleksei KIIANKIN (RUS) df. Daniyar KALENOV (KAZ), 2-1
71 kg - Yury DENISOV (RUS) df. Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ), 4-2
75 kg - Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS) df. Maxat YEREZHEPOV (KAZ), 5-1
80 kg - Adlan AKIEV (RUS) df. Daulet ZHAXYLYKOV (KAZ), 5-1
85 kg - Evgeny SALEEV (RUS) df. Azamat KUSTUBAYEV (KAZ), 1-1
98 kg - Maksim SAFARIAN (RUS) df. Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ), 8-1
130 kg - Boris VAINSHTEIN (RUS) df. Damir KUZEMBAYEV (KAZ), 5-1

IRAN (IRI) df. GERMANY (GER), 7-1

59 kg - Mohsen Hossein HAJIPOUR (IRI) df. Christopher Josef KRAEMER (GER), 2-0
66 kg - Mehdi Chooli ZEIDVAND (IRI) df. Erik WEISS (GER), 2-0
7 1 kg - Mohammadali Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) df. Maximilian Andreas SCHWABE (GER), 7-0
75 kg - Saeid Morad ABDVALI (IRI) df. Florian NEUMAIER (GER), 7-2
80 kg - Yousef Ahmad GHADERIAN (IRI) df. Pascal EISELE (GER) by TF, 11-2
85 kg - Hossein Ahmad NOURI (IRI) df. Ramsin AZIZSIR (GER), 2-1
98 kg - Seyedmostafa Seyedghanbar SALEHIZADEH (IRI) df. Oliver Adrian HASSLER (GER), 5-0
130 kg - Eduard POPP (GER) df. Amir Mohammadali GHASEMIMONJAZI (IRI), 5-2

Round 2

RUSSIA (RUS) df. IRAN (IRI), 5-3

59 kg - Mingiyan SEMENOV (RUS) df. Saman Morad ABDOULI (IRI), 3-1
66 kg - Artem SURKOV (RUS) df. Ali Reizollah ARSALAN (IRI), 7-4
71 kg - Mohammadali Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) df. Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS), 4-0
75 kg - Roman VLASOV (RUS) df. Saeid Morad ABDVALI (IRI), 5-1
80 kg - Yousef Ahmad GHADERIAN (IRI) df. Ramazan ABACHARAEV (RUS), 3-0
85 kg - Davit CHAKVETADZE (RUS) df. Hossein Ahmad NOURI (IRI) by TF, 9-0
98 kg - Seyedmostafa Seyedghanbar SALEHIZADEH (IRI) df. Maksim SAFARIAN (RUS), 2-0
130 kg - Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) df. Behnam Aliakbar MEHDIZADEH ARYATAPEH (IRI), 2-1

GERMANY (GER) df. KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ), 6-2

59 kg - Christopher Josef KRAEMER (GER) df. Zhanserik SARSENBIYEV (KAZ), 4-3
66 kg - Daniyar KALENOV (KAZ) df. Erik WEISS (GER), 5-0
71 kg - Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ) df. Maximilian Andreas SCHWABE (GER), 1-0
75 kg - Florian NEUMAIER (GER) df. Tamerlan SHADUKAYEV (KAZ), 3-0
80 kg - Pascal EISELE (GER) df. Daulet ZHAXYLYKOV (KAZ), 5-1
85 kg - Ramsin AZIZSIR (GER) df. Azamat KUSTUBAYEV (KAZ), 2-1
98 kg - Oliver Adrian HASSLER (GER) df. Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ), 4-2
130 kg - Eduard POPP (GER) df. Damir KUZEMBAYEV (KAZ), 6-3

Group B

Round 1

AZERBAIJAN (AZE) df. TURKEY (TUR), 5-3

59 kg - Hammet RUSTEM (TUR) df. Rovshan BAYRAMOV (AZE) by FALL, 6-3
66 kg - Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) df. Kamran MAMMADOV (AZE), 5-2
71 kg - Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) df. Ilker SONMEZ (TUR), 1-1
75 kg - Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE) df. Emrah KUS (TUR), 3-1
80 kg - Aslan ATEM (TUR) df. Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE), 4-2
85 kg - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Metehan BASAR (TUR), 7-0
98 kg - Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE) df. Cenk ILDEM (TUR), 3-1
130 kg - Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) df. Ali Nail ARSLAN (TUR), 2-0

UKRAINE (UKR) df. BELARUS (BLR), 6-2

59 kg - Zhora ABOVIAN (UKR) df. Maksim KAZHARSKI (BLR), 8-4
66 kg - Parviz NASIBOV (UKR) df. Yaraslau KARDASH (BLR), 3-2
71 kg - Pavel LIAKH (BLR) df. Ruslan ISRAFILOV (UKR), 2-0
75 kg - Mykola DARAGAN (UKR) df. Yahor KASIANKOU (BLR) by FALL, 9-1
80 kg - Dmytro PYSHKOV (UKR) df. Radzik KULIYEU (BLR), 3-0
85 kg - Iurii SHKRIUBA (UKR) df. Mikalai STADUB (BLR), 2-1
98 kg - Volodymyr VASYLIEV (UKR) df. Yahor YASKAVETS (BLR), 7-1
130 kg - Heorhi CHUHASHVILI (BLR) df. Oleksandr CHERNETSKYY (UKR), 4-4

Round 2

AZERBAIJAN (AZE) df. BELARUS (BLR), 5-3

59 kg - Maksim KAZHARSKI (BLR) df. Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE), 2-1
66 kg - Nofal BABAYEV (AZE) df. Yaraslau KARDASH (BLR) by TF, 8-0
71 kg - Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) df. Pavel LIAKH (BLR) by TF, 9-0
75 kg - Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE) df. Yahor KASIANKOU (BLR) by TF, 10-2
80 kg - Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE) df. Radzik KULIYEU (BLR), 2-0
85 kg - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Mikalai STADUB (BLR), 3-0
98 kg - Yahor YASKAVETS (BLR) df. Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE), 8-7
130 kg - Heorhi CHUHASHVILI (BLR) df. Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) by withdrawal, 0-0

TURKEY (TUR) df. UKRAINE (UKR), 5-3

59 kg - Hammet RUSTEM (TUR) df. Zhora ABOVIAN (UKR) by TF, 9-0
66 kg - Parviz NASIBOV (UKR) df. Atakan YUKSEL (TUR), 2-1
71 kg - Ilker SONMEZ (TUR) df. Ruslan ISRAFILOV (UKR), 2-1
75 kg - Emrah KUS (TUR) df. Mykola DARAGAN (UKR), 5-1
80 kg - Dmytro PYSHKOV (UKR) df. Aslan ATEM (TUR), 4-1
85 kg - Metehan BASAR (TUR) df. Iurii SHKRIUBA (UKR), 4-1
98 kg - Suleyman DEMIRCI (TUR) df. Volodymyr VASYLIEV (UKR) by TF, 8-0
130 kg - Oleksandr CHERNETSKYY (UKR) df. Ali Nail ARSLAN (TUR) by TF, 8-0