The Championships, which are scheduled to take place at the Orleans Arena from tomorrow until Saturday (September 12), will be wrestling’s first qualifier for next year’s Olympic Games with the top six finishers in each weight class securing a place for their nation.

Leading the cast of Olympic champions are Japanese women’s wrestling stars Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho who have each won three Olympic gold medals.

Yoshida is a 12-time world champion, while Icho has nine world titles to her name and is currently on an incredible 153-match winning streak dating back to the 2004 World Championships.

Should the duo qualify for Rio 2016, they will have the opportunity to become the first wrestlers in Olympic history to win four gold medals.

London 2012 gold medallist Natalia Vorobieva of Russia will be aiming to claim her first world title, dropping down from her Olympic weight of 72 kilograms to compete at 69kg.

Another Olympic champion, the United States’ Jordan Burroughs, will be looking to justify his number one ranking in the men’s 74kg freestyle category by bettering his bronze medal finish at the 2014 World Championships and adding to the two world titles he has already won.

Azerbaijan’s Togrul Asgarov, ranked number three at 65kg, will also be hoping to make his mark after a topsy-turvy few years since winning Olympic gold in London.

The 23-year-old will no doubt be full of confidence having won gold on home soil at the Baku 2015 European Games in June.  

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Mijian Lopez of Cuba is set to defend his Greco-Roman heavyweight world title, while Iran’s Hamid Soryan and Ghasem Rezaei, London 2012 winners of top honours at 55kg and 96kg respectively, are in line to compete.

Soryan is a six-time defending world champion, while Rezaei is ranked third at 98kg, a category in which he had to settle for bronze last year.

South Korea’s Kim Hyeon-Woo, currently ranked number one at 75kg, sat out last year’s World Championships to compete at the 2014 Asian Games, where he took gold, but is back in the fold this time round. 

Kim, the London 2012 gold medallist at 66kg and 2013 world champion at 74kg, will be in action tomorrow with Greco-Roman wrestling at 66kg, 75kg and 98kg all featuring on the opening day’s programme.

Reigning world champion Arsen Julfalakyan of Armenia, who won 74kg silver at London 2012, is likely to provide Kim’s sternest opposition.

The pair have been ranked one-two throughout the year with Kim edging Julfalakyan, 1-0, at the Grand Prix of Spain in July.

United World Wrestling, the international governing body, will deliver a high-definition live stream of every match from the Championships.

To access the event page and the live stream, click here.  

You can also follow all the action from the World Championships using #VegasWorlds2015 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.



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