The Wrestling World Cup will be held in Belgrade (Serbia) on December 12-18, with the participation of the Armenian Greco-Roman wrestling team with 9 wrestlers.

Rudik Mkrtchyan (55 kg), Armen Melikyan (60 kg), Gevorg Gharibyan (63 kg), Slavik Galstyan (67 kg), Malkhas Amoyan (72 kg), Karapet Chalyan (77 kg), Artur Shahinyan (87 kg), Artur Aleksanyan (97 kg), David Ovasapyan (130 kg) will compete for medal. These days the wrestlers are holding a training camp in Olimpavan. According to the national team coach Gevorg Aleksanyan, the selection of participants was not easy, since no tournaments were held for a long time due to the coronavirus and the war.

“Many wrestlers haven’t participated in competitions for almost a year. The preparatory stage of the World Cup was disrupted several times for obvious reasons. The training camps and tournaments planned abroad did not take place, but this will not prevent us from fighting for medals”, says Gevorg Aleksanyan.

The coach also emphasized that now the fighting spirit of wrestlers is very high, as they understand how important it is to celebrate victories during this period: “Even if not fully prepared we must try to do the best we can. Now we need to raise the spirit of our people, to give our country big and small victories again, to restore faith towards our own strength. The members of the team realize it very well. Everyone should take responsibility in their own sphere and give our country victories again. We must overcome the depression, we have to rise to our feet and walk.”

Note that freestyle wrestlers will also take part in the World Cup. The coaching staff of the Armenian national freestyle wrestling team will publish the list of participants in the coming days.