Insecurity for Iranians and non-Iranians is Hurting Sports Teams

A top sporting official in Iran has hailed Iran’s role in international sport, despite a large-scale withdrawal of teams due to participate in a forthcoming badminton championship on grounds of safety.

Twenty-six countries have taken the decision to withdraw from Iran’s International Fajr Badminton Cup competitions following a decision taken by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) after it learned that several governments had advised its citizens not to travel to Iran due to worries over security. The BWF announced on February 1 that it would no longer be awarding points toward quotas for participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the competition. This meant that no national badminton team could earn points by competing at the Fajr Badminton Cup.

However, this news did not stop Abdolhamid Ahmadi, the Deputy Sports Minister for Cultural Affairs, from announcing that “the Islamic Republic’s sports enjoy the highest level of attention from the international community.”

On Sunday, February 2, this “international attention” manifested itself in the government of Australia refusing to issue visas for members of Iran’s National Gymnastics Team to compete at the  Melbourne Gymnastics World Cup, scheduled to get underway on February 20.

The sudden decision by 26 countries to withdraw from Fajr Cup competitions is a direct result of security concerns.

The Fajr Badminton Cup competitions were due to start on February 4 in Shiraz. Prior to this, the Badminton World Federation had announced that the competition would affect rankings and quotas for the Olympic games, meaning that medal winners at Fajr would rise in ranking and their wins would count toward their participation at the Olympics.

But then came the BWF’s February 1 statement: “The BWF has recently received questions from Member Associations regarding safety concerns of their players and coaches traveling to Iran to compete in the 29th Fajr Badminton International Challenge 2020, due to take place 04 – 08 February. BWF has been working with the Iran Badminton Federation and appreciates its support, reassurances and the steps it has taken regarding safety of participants at the tournament. BWF has noted that some players have withdrawn from the tournament due to their government’s advice to their citizens to only take necessary travel to Iran at this time... Given the above, BWF has taken the decision that the 29th Fajr Badminton International Challenge 2020 will not count towards the Olympic qualification process.”

Before this statement, the following countries had registered to compete at the International Fajr Badminton Cup games: Malta, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Afghanistan, Iraq, Portugal, Italy, Slovakia, Azerbaijan, Iceland, Finland, Canada, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Vietnam, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Russia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ukraine, Hungry, USA, Pakistan, Austria, Turkey, India, Moldavia, England, Wales, Poland, Mauritius, Mexico, Bulgaria, Brazil, Myanmar and Cyprus. But in less than 24 hours after the BWF’s statement, the 26 countries withdrew from the competitions.

As a result, Iranian badminton players are likely to have a lesser chance of winning a place for themselves in the Olympics. They were counting on the Fajr Cup competitions to move up in the ranking, but now they will have to wait for a replacement tournament, which is expected to be announced by the BWF within the next two weeks.

 

A Dire Situation

However, the repercussions of security concerns have not been limited to this bad news for Iran’s badminton athletes.

Prior to this, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had moved the Asian Championship League playoffs to other countries. As a result, Iranian football teams Esteghlal and Shahr Khodro were forced to travel to the United Arab Emirates to play against their competitors instead of doing it in Tehran and Mashhad as planned. The AFC’s Competition Committee convinced the four Iranian football clubs in the Championship League to play their three “home” games in the countries of their competitors and promised them that if security concerns eased considerably, then their competitors and AFC’s referees would come to Iran for the “return” games.

Even before this, United World Wrestling (UWW) had canceled Wrestling World Cup events in Iran. On November 24, following nationwide protests triggered by the sudden and steep rise in gas prices, UWW revoked Iran’s license to host the competitions over security concerns.

“This is a conspiracy against our country,” said Mohammad Shervin Asbaghian, Director General of Federations’ Common Affairs at the Iranian Ministry of Sports, reverting to a familiar refrain used by Iranian officials when confronted by challenges. Officials found more evidence for this “conspiracy” after Iran’s attack on American bases in Iraq and the shooting down of an Ukrainian passenger flight over Tehran by the Revolutionary Guard’s air defense. Germany suspended flights to Iran for two weeks, Austria suspended all flights by its airlines until further notice and many governments advised their citizens to avoid traveling to Iran.

Windsor John, the Asian Football Confederation’s Secretary General, said that the AFC’s Referees Committee had learned that Asian referees are either personally reluctant to travel to Iran or their governments will not permit them to do so.

It’s the latest in a catalog of misfortunes in Iranian sports. In the last year, and especially in recent months, many Iranian sports figure have sought asylum in “safe” countries: Mobin Kahrazeh, member of the Iranian National Boxing Team, took refuge in Austria; Saeid Mollaei, the judo champion, and Kimia Alizadeh, the Taekwondo athlete and the first Iranian woman to win a medal at the Olympics, defected to Germany; Alireza Firouzja, the chess prodigy, chose France, and during the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in December 2019, Mitra Hejazi, female chess grandmaster, and Shohreh Bayat, Asia’s first and only female Grade-A chess arbiter, announced that they would not be returning to Iran.

Australia is not even the first country to refuse to issue visas for the Iranian Gymnastics National Team. A little earlier, Germany did the same.

Zahra Incheh Dargahi, president of Iran's Gymnastic Federation, accused Australia of "politicizing" the process of issuing visas for three Iranian athletes. She claimed that the Iranian gymnast Saeed Reza Keikha had a good shot at getting to the Olympics but now, having been refused visas twice, his chances are much lower. Dargahi reported that the Iranian Foreign Ministry has now become involved in the case because Iran’s sports authorities are unable to solve the problems by themselves.

But Abdolhamid Ahmadi, the Deputy Sports Minister who has dozens of other government and private sector jobs on the side, puts a different spin on the shockwaves in Iranian sports. “The aim of the media opposed to the regime is to rob the champions from a bright future by encouraging a surge in immigration,” he told the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).

Ahmadi’s ultimate words of wisdom for Iranian athletes after three decades as an authority in the field of culture and sports were this: “The athletes must be careful not to fall into the trap laid by individuals who want to exploit them.”

 

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