The case on Alireza Karimi, the Iranian wrestler who intentionally lost a match at the U23 World Championship in Poland to avoid facing off an Israeli rival, is about to be wrapped up, with the final verdict likely to bring Iran a one-year suspension. It appears that last week, the insistence of the International Olympic […]
The case on Alireza Karimi, the Iranian wrestler who intentionally lost a match at the U23 World Championship in Poland to avoid facing off an Israeli rival, is about to be wrapped up, with the final verdict likely to bring Iran a one-year suspension.
It appears that last week, the insistence of the International Olympic Committee on the United World Wrestling (UWW) to bring up the suspension of Iran’s wrestling has become very serious, and it looks very likely that Iran would face suspension from all international competitions for about a year.
The International Olympic Committee, heavily influenced by Israel, expects that Iran’s suspension due to Karimi’s refusal to face off an Israeli rival, would take on an international dimension against Iran’s sports activities. Meanwhile, Karimi’s suspension as well as his coach’s are also almost definite.
President of Iran Wrestling Federation Rasoul Khadem has twice traveled to Switzerland to hold negotiations with high-ranking officials of the United World Wrestling (UWW), and managed to postpone the final verdict on the case for two months. Now it remains to be seen how successful Iran’s wrestling diplomacy team has been in settling this major dilemma.
