Sport

Al-Monitor – At a time when tensions between Iran and the West are elevated and the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal hangs in the balance, a forthcoming athletic encounter resembling what pundits call “ping-pong diplomacy” is revitalizing hopes that there are still opportunities for narrowing gaps between the two sides.  The draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in …

Iranwire – On Sunday, May 15, the Iran Football League Organization announced that matches across the country would be held behind closed doors, without spectators, for the foreseeable future. The official reason given by president Heydar Baharvand was the Interior Ministry had flagged up a widespread failure to follow Covid-19 rules at sports venues. Pro League matches are set to continue for another …

Iranwire – Heydar Baharvand, President of the Iran Football League Organization, has ordered the heads of the country’s province-level football leagues to tell them not to allow spectators into matches until further notice. In a letter reported on by Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Baharvand said he had taken the decision based on a directive by the Interior Ministry that stated Covid-19 …

Iranwire – Iranian media outlets have reporrted the abrupt “disappearance” of 17-year-old athlete Yekta Jamali in Greece. Days after she won another silver medal at the Youth World Weightlifting Championships, Jamali apparently did not join her team returning home and her whereabouts remains unknown. Zahra Pouramin, acting vice president of the Iranian Women’s Weightlifting Federation, confirmed the situation to IRNA …

Iranwire – In the Turkish city of Denizli, some 3,000km away from home, two Iranian girls are forging a future for themselves on the football pitch. Elna Sharifat, 13, and Setareh Ghahremani, 20, were brought to the country by Elna’s brother, a coach who saw their talents and knew instinctively there would be little hope of nurturing them in Iran. …

Iranwire – Bahman Nasiri, a member of the Iranian national rowing team, has emigrated to the Republic of Azerbaijan. The news was confirmed by Alireza Sohrabian, president of Iran’s Canoe, Sailing and Rowing Federation, after it emerged that Nasiri had asked for his name to be removed from the roster. Unlike other Iranian sports federation bosses, Sohrabian did not take …

RFL/RE – When Iranian women recently tried to enter a soccer match between Iran and Lebanon in Mashhad on March 29, they were violently beaten by guards at the stadium, despite holding tickets. The decision to again exclude female fans has caused widespread anger in Iran. https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-female-soccer-mashhad-violence-human-rights/31814616.html

Iranwire – “Alcohol is banned, British nationals are regularly picked up on spurious charges of spying and only two weeks ago female football fans were pepper-sprayed for having the cheek to attend an international match. And now, Iran says it is ready to host thousands of England supporters a short hop from Qatar for this year’s World Cup.” This is what British …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – There has been an intensification of the crackdown on civil society in Iran over the last week. Six civil and workers’ rights activists, Amir Amirgholi, Amir Abbasi, Mohammad Irannejad, Sara Asgari, Nasrollah Amirlou and Morteza Seyedi were arrested. Rasoul Bodaghi, a civil activist and member of the Teachers’ Union was sentenced to five years imprisonment, …

Iran-HRM – Mahsa Kamali, a member of the Iranian women’s national futsal team was eliminated from the national team for showing her support for Ukraine by wearing a “Stop War” shirt. She was earlier summoned to the disciplinary committee for declaring her opposition to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Speaking with the state-run IRNA news agency, Kamali said that when …