“The event will take place either 5 and 6 December or the week after that 10 and 11 December, “ said Iran’s national Greco-Roman team coach Mohammad Bana, adding that its exact date will be announced on Friday.
The United World Wrestling (UWW) Executive Committee held a meeting on Saturday in Istanbul and postponed the event due to recent anti-government protests against a sharp rise in fuel prices.
"Considering its responsibility towards athletes and teams; and that the situation has not reached a satisfactory degree of stability for the holding of such an international event and in order to avoid any risk on our athletes, the Executive Committee has decided to postpone the holding of the World Cup GR until further notice," wrote United World Wrestling general secretary Micheal Dusson, in a letter addressed to the national federations.
Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Cuba are seeded in Group 1 while Uzbekistan, Georgia, Japan and China will compete against each other in Group 2.
Hungary was replaced by China in Group 2 after the first withdrawn its participation.
Iran’s Sport Minister Masood Soltanifar has communicated with Iran’s ambassadors to China, Japan and Russia, via the country’s Foreign Ministry, to invite their respected officials to take part in the event on new dates.
Soltanifar also asked Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to facilitate communication with participating countries’ envoys to Iran to make sure their officials take part in the event.
The world cup was set to take place this weekend in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium having the capacity to host 12,000 spectators.
Iran’s Ambassador to Japan Rahmani Movahhed said on Wednesday that Japan’s Wrestling Federation President Tomiaki Fukunda will attend the 2019 Greco-Roman World Cup on new dates.
Iran’s Wrestling Federation spokesman Hasan Rangraz also said that the country’s national Greco-Roman team is preparing itself for the world cup.
Mohammad Bana, Iran’s national Greco-Roman coach however showed his wrath at the international organ’s decision to postpone the event, saying it was “a deliberate move by Western states”.
“Junior Fencing World Cup was held in Iran a couple of weeks ago in Tehran. The postponement was done by those who were closely monitoring the situation and saw that wrestling is very popular in Iran and tried to politicize the issue for the lack of security,” Bana stated.
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