India has competed in past World Cups (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)In light of media reports that the Russian men's freestyle wrestling team may not attend the Freestyle World Cup in Iowa City and the recent decision of Iran not to send their team, USA Wrestling has invited two major freestyle wrestling powers, Mongolia and India, to participate in the event.
The World Cup is the annual international dual meet championship, and will be held at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at the University of Iowa, April 7-8.
At this point, USA Wrestling has received no information from the Russian Wrestling Federation or the international wrestling federation United World Wrestling that Russia is not attending. As the hosts of the event, USA Wrestling still has an expectation and hope that Russia will participate.
"USA Wrestling and our hosts in Iowa City are looking forward to hosting the Russian delegation at the World Cup. In light of recent news concerning the Russian team's situation, we have also invited Mongolia and India to Iowa City. Should the issues concerning Russia's participation be resolved and Russia is able to make it to Iowa City to wrestle, we will plan accordingly. If not, our fans, our sport and the host broadcasters from NBC and the Olympic Channel will still have a full field of top teams at the World Cup," said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director.
Both Mongolia and India have supplied preliminary rosters to USA Wrestling for their World Cup team, and both nations have committed to bringing strong teams, which will feature a number of Olympians, World medalists, World Team members and Continental medalists to Iowa City.
Mongolia and India have participated in past Freestyle World Cup competitions, and have placed among the top nations in men's freestyle at the Olympic and World levels a number of times.
Iran, which was added to the field as a replacement to Turkey, only recently informed the hosts that they would not participate in the Freestyle World Cup. Mongolia was invited at that time and decided to participate.
USA Wrestling will provide complete updates on the composition of the new delegations, the changes to the competition schedule and other important information as it becomes available.
"There will be outstanding competition showcasing amazing athletes and teams at the World Cup, and we look forward to hosting the world in Iowa City next weekend," said Bender.
Tickets can be purchased for the two-day event at WorldCupIowaCity.com/tickets.
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