Iran coach asks player to lose to avoid Israeli opponent

Incident took place in wrestling’s Senior U23 World Championships

Iran’s wrestling coach is receiving a bashing on social media after asking his player to lose in the Senior U23 World Championship in Poland.

According to a story published in BBC Urdu, the incident took place when Ali Raza Karimi was leading against his opponent. Iran’s coach, though, told him to throw the fight after realising that victory would have pitched Karimi against an Israeli opponent in the semi-finals.

The incident was recorded on the video, which was later posted on Twitter. The coach twice shouts ‘you must lose’ in Persian in the video.

https://twitter.com/DamonGolriz/status/934904769113739264

Both countries have had troubled political relations for a while now, with Iran having stopped players from competing against Israeli opponents in the past as well.