Cracks Appearing In Iran Regarding Their “Avoid Competing Against Israelis in Sports” Policy | israellycool

Last month, I posted about what I thought may have been a first: an Iranian athlete being banned for throwing their match to avoid competing against an Israeli. In this case, it was Alireza Karimi (aka Alireza Karimimachiani), and he was banned for 6 months for throwing his bout against Alikhan Zhabrilov – all to avoid competing against Israel’s Uri Kalashnikov. His coach Hamidreza Jamshidi was also banned.