Why are Iran's Top Athletes Leaving the Country in Droves?
Sports and Politics News Blog, Kodoom.com
In recent months several top prominent Iranian athletes have either left the country to compete for other nations or protested prevailing conditions. The list includes Iran's chess prodigies (such as Alireza Firouzja, Iran's top Grandmaster and the world’s number two junior player who wants to compete under the French or U.S. flag), national taekwondo champions such as Kimia Alizadeh and Farzad Zolghadr, taekwondo champions who migrated to The Netherlands and Bulgaria, respectively, and Judo champion Saeid Mollaei who renounced his Iranian citizenship, fled to Germany and now competing for Mongolia.
Many Iranian athletes blame the exodus on political and religious (theocratic) pressures. For example, Firouzja and Molaei renounced their citizenship over pressures to boycott or lose matches with Israeli competitors. Iranian authorities had ordered Mollaei to intentionally lose in the semi-final at the Tokyo 2019 World Championships, so as to avoid a potential match in the finals against Israeli 2019 world champion Sagi Muki. In reaction, saying he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships, in August 2019 he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany, and in December 2019 he became a citizen of Mongolia. Mollaei will reportedly arrive in Israel in January 2020 to compete at the Tel Aviv Grand Prix.
Many female athletes leave Iran because of the religious intolerance and the sensitivity of fanatical pressure groups about women's hair! Last week, Sara Khadem Alsharia, Iran's top female chess Grandmaster, said she current doesn't like to immigrate but is fed up because "Hard headed folks are ignorant and don't budge in their pressures!" Also, earlier this month, amidst drumbeats of a war with the US, Iranian radicals showed outrage as Shohreh Bayat, an Iranian female Chess referee showed up without Hijab (head scarf) in an International Match (news link) outside Iran! Another female Iranian Chess Player defied Iranian rules and appeared in the Moscow tournament without Hijab (news link).
In December, Iran's Chess Federation objected to Parham Maghsoodloo and Amin Tabatabaei, two Iranian chess Grandmasters, playing games against Israeli opponents in a recent blitz tournament. Despite their victory over Israeli opponents, both Grandmasters were reprimanded in Iran because of the hardliners' policy of not recognizing Israel as a legitimate government, but an occupied land (news source). Subsequently, the federation decided to withdraw participation of all Iranian players from the World Rapid & Blitz, but Firouzja did not go along with this decision.
Firouzja is currently competing at The Tata Steel Chess Tournament along with 13 of the world's best chess Grandmasters including Magnus Carlsen. Sadly, Firouzja is the only "countryless" contestant in the list (link).
Politicization of sports has cost Iran in other areas too. In football (soccer), several prominent international coaches from Turkey, Italy and Germany have been forced to leave Iran in disgraceful conditions in recent months because the state-run teams could not pay them in the aftermath of Trump-imposed sanctions and shortage of foreign currency. Many Iranian football teams are not commercially viable and run as strategic or national security mechanisms.
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