Brackets set for Team USA at World Olympic Games Qualifier in Istanbul

Greco-Roman Outlook

Three U.S. Olympic Team Trials champions and U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program teammates spearhead the Greco-Roman effort in Turkey—Dalton Roberts at 60 kg, Ellis Coleman at 67 kg and Kamal Bey at 77 kg.

Roberts, a two-time U.S. World Team member and Pan American champion, opens his campaign with a round one matchup against Viktor Petryk of Ukraine, who was a bronze medalist at the 2021 European Championships and has competed at three Senior World Championships. Petryk’s highest placement at the World’s was 13^th back in 2019.

Should Roberts navigate a couple early wins, he could see a rematch with No. 1 seed Gevorg Gharibyan of Armenia in the quarterfinals. Gharibyan topped Roberts 8-4 at the 2021 World Championships. The bottom side of Roberts half bracket features No. 4 seed Sadyk Lalaev, an Individual Neutral Athlete from Russia, U23 World medalist and Individual Neutral Athlete Hleb Makaranka from Belarus, and 2023 World bronze medalist Georgij Tibilov of Serbia, among others.

Coleman, a London Olympian, four-time U.S. World Team member and two-time U20 World bronze medalist, begins his run with a tough test against Aliaksandr Liavonchyk, an Individual Neutral Athlete from Belarus. Liavonchyk was runner-up at the 2019 U23 World Championships.

Two wins puts Coleman in the quarterfinals where he would likely face No. 4 seed Abu Amaev of Bulgaria, who is a 2019 U20 World champion and 2023 European bronze medalist. The semifinal round could bring a match against either No. 1 seed Krisztian Vancza of Hungary or Tokyo Olympian Etienne Kinsinger of Germany.

Bey, a three-time U.S. World Team member and 2017 U20 World champion, gets Individual Neutral Athlete Sergei Kutuzov, a 2021 World silver medalist from Russia, to open his tournament. He’d follow that up with a likely round two match against the other Individual Neutral Athlete in the field, Tsimur Berdyieu from Belarus, who has placed fifth at the Senior World Championships twice.

Also on Bey’s side of the bracket are 2017 World champion, five-time European medalist and Rio Olympian Viktor Nemes of Serbia, 2016 World bronze medalist Ilie Cojocari of Romania, Asian bronze medalist Vikas Vikas of India, and No. 2 seed Iuri Lomadze of Georgia, who earned bronze at the recent European Championships.