Iran complains over unfair distribution of referees in world wrestling

Rasoul Khadem made his protest during the UWW meeting which was held on the sidelines of the World Championships 2017 in Paris.

Despite the fact that the number of gold medals in 2012 and 2016 games were 14 medals for Asia and 8 medals for US, 55 referees out of the total 91 referees who are supposed to judge international competitions are from Europe, 17 from Asia and the rest from other continents, Khadem complained.

He went on to say that the unjust number of the referees has caused a serious discrimination over technical status of referees in different continents. He added that number of the European referees are three times more than their Asian and five times more than their American counterparts.

Iran suggested formation of a council of referees which would be consisted of two representatives from Asia, Europe and America and two others from the Oceania and Africa along with three referees named by United World Wrestling, Khadem said.

He added that Iran's proposal was welcomed by non-European referees of the UWW presiding board.

According to Khadem decreasing the number of the European referees is a major challenge.
World Championships 2017was held on August 21-26 in Paris.

Translator: Ali Izadi
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