According to "Varzesh3", the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, continued today as Mohammadhadi Saravi, captain of Iran's national Greco-Roman wrestling team, was expected to get past his Russian opponent and reach the final, and to step onto the mat tomorrow for the gold medal. However, events unfolded in a completely different way, and the Paris Olympic champion lost in the semi-final against Artur Sargsian of Russia and missed out on reaching the final.
But this match was not just a sporting defeat, and it very quickly became one of Iran's most controversial wrestling bouts today. After yesterday's events and Ali Esko's lost chance to reach the final, it was now Saravi's turn to miss the final bout in a controversy-filled match — an incident that drew many protests and once again put the refereeing decisions and the performance of United World Wrestling officials at the center of attention.
During this match, the Russian wrestler repeatedly stopped the bout due to injury and effectively brought the flow of the wrestling to a halt. In the final moments of the first period, Mohammadhadi Saravi also managed to send his opponent out of the mat — an incident that could have brought one point for leaving the mat and another point for fleeing the bout for the Iranian wrestler. However, after reviewing the incident, it was announced that the match time had ended at the moment the Russian wrestler's foot left the mat, and for that reason no point was awarded to Saravi.
The peak of the controversy, however, came in another incident; where Saravi was executing an attack and his Russian opponent, using the leg-trip technique, which is forbidden in Greco-Roman wrestling and belongs to freestyle wrestling, caused the Iranian wrestler to leave the mat. In the end, instead of the incident ending in Saravi's favor, one point went to Sargsian; a decision that drew a fierce protest from Iran's technical staff, but made no change to the referees' verdict, so that the Russian wrestler ultimately emerged victorious and earned the right to appear in the World Championship final.
After this controversial bout, Alireza Dabir, president of the Iranian Wrestling Federation, became intensely angry at what had happened and displayed one of his most furious reactions in Astana, Kazakhstan. Dabir, who was clearly dissatisfied with the decisions made in this match, announced his protest with great intensity to the United World Wrestling officials and the refereeing committee of the World Championships and created a heated atmosphere at the venue.
In fact, the president of the Iranian Wrestling Federation could not accept what he considered the denial of the rights of the captain of the national Greco-Roman team, and for this reason his anger peaked after the bout ended. Now Saravi's elimination from the final, in circumstances where there was great hope for his gold medal, alongside yesterday's events and the Ali Esko affair, has created fresh controversies for Iranian wrestling at the World Championships.
Source: Varzesh3
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