The United World Wrestling wrote in a statement on Friday that Karimi violated regulations when he intentionally lost to a Russian competitor.
By ALLON SINAIwrestling 311(photo credit: courtesy)
The world wrestling governing body banned Iranian Alireza Karimi for six months on Friday after he was found guilty of deliberately throwing a match last November to avoid facing Israeli Uri Kalashnikov.The United World Wrestling wrote in a statement on Friday that Karimi violated regulations when he intentionally lost to a Russian competitor in the quarterfinals of the under-23 wrestling world championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, so that he wouldn’t need to face Kalashnikov, who went on to win a bronze medal.Karimi’s coach, Hamidreza Jamshidi, was banned for two years for instructing his wrestler to lose.“The chamber found that Karimachiani, on instruction of his coach Jamshidi, willfully lost his quarter finals match against Alikhan Zhabrayilov,” a UWW statement read, “Both wrestler and coach were found to have acted in direct violation of the International Wrestling Rules and the UWW Disciplinary Regulations.”
