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Iran's athletes avoid wrestling Israelis

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News | 9/13/2011 12:00:00 AM |

Conflict between Iranian and Israeli athletes dominated the first day of the World Wrestling Championship at Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome on Monday.

Two Iranian wrestlers, Mohsen Hajipour and Ghasem Rezaei, refused to compete with their Israeli competitors at the World Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Anatolia news agency reported.

Rezaei did not enter the mat as he was to meet his Israeli opponent, Robert Avanesyan, in the first round. Rezaei won a bronze medal in the world championship in 2007 and was considered a medal hopeful again this year. However, he withdrew from the competition, clearing the way for Avanesyan, an Israeli of Armenian origin, to advance to the next round. Avanesyan, however, lost his match in the next round, bringing his tournament to an end.

The case of Hajipour was a more intriguing one, however, as he intentionally lost to Moldova’s Donior Islamov to avoid competing against an Israeli athlete in the second round, Anatolia news agency said.

In other categories, Azerbaijan, Iran and Bulgaria became the first countries to claim gold medals in the championship.

Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan defeated Belarus’ Elbek Tazhyieu of Belarus to win the gold medal in the 55 kg Greco-Roman category, while Iran’s Saed Morad Abdvali won the 66kg category against Georgia’s Manuchar Tskhadaia for gold. Cuba’s Pedro Mulens Herrera and South Korean Hyeon-Woo Kim claimed the respective bronze medals.

Bulgarian Guri Elis clinched the gold medal in men’s 96kg Greco-Roman category after beating Sweden’s Alexander Jimmy Lidberg in the final. Cenk İldem won Turkey’s first medal in the competition when he took home bronze.

The finals for the men’s 74kg Greco-Roman and the women’s 48kg and 51kg finals will be held Wednesday.