Iran-U.S. Friendly Wrestling Matches Mysteriously Abbreviated
The U.S. and Iran over the years have managed far better relations in sports than otherwise. But a joint effort between them and Russia last week that was aimed at salvaging wrestling for the 2020 Olympics went awry when Iran withdrew from the second of a pair of friendly matches in the U.S. and flew home instead. USIP’s Iran Primer looks at sports that have connected Iran and the U.S.
Iran’s wrestling team pulled out of the second of a pair of friendly matches with the U.S. aimed at saving the sport’s role in Olympic competition, and unexpectedly flew back home last week after winning the first face-off in New York.
The plan for the two matches had been a rare example of the two sides seeing eye-to-eye, as they campaigned alongside Russia to persuade the International Olympic Committee to keep the category on the roster for the 2020 Olympics. The IOC had recommended in February that wrestling be dropped and is due to make a final decision in September, according to USIP’s Garrett Nada. He explained the joint effort, part of “United 4 Wrestling,” in a Q&A on the Institute’s Iran Primer web site last week. Iran won the first of their planned matches in New York’s Grand Central Station by a score of 6-1, a result reported on Press TV, the Iranian English-language news outlet.
“Despite tensions between their governments, the American and Iranian wrestling organizations have developed a unique relationship over the past two decades,” Nada wrote. “Iran’s national team has competed in the United States ten times since 1995.”
The two sides were to compete in a second match on May 19 in Los Angeles. But USA Wrestling announced two days before that the Iranian Wrestling Federation withdrew, saying their team’s schedule had changed. The Iranians reportedly gave no further reasons for the departure. The U.S. instead hosted Russia and Canada in the L.A. event.
Basketball also has served as a kind of bridge between the U.S. and Iran, Nada reports in a separate interview with 6-foot-5-inch point guard Jonas Lalehzadeh from California. Iran has drawn on American basketball prowess in multiple ways, from hiring an American coach for its national team in 2000 to recruiting dozens of U.S. players for various squads over the years since then.
Viola Gienger is a senior writer at USIP.
