The First Victim of the Islamic Republic's 'You Must Lose' Law in 2024; Hadi Vafaipour Did Not Make Weight

The Zagreb Open Wrestling Championships, part of the United World Wrestling ranking events, concluded with news breaking again about an Iranian wrestler failing to make weight due to the presence of two Israeli competitors. Hadi Vafaipour, the Iranian national wrestler in the 86 kg category who replaced Hassan Yazdani in the Zagreb wrestling competitions, became a victim of the unwritten 'You Must Lose' law of the Islamic Republic in the first round of the UWW ranking events for 2024. According to the draw of the competition, Vafaipour was supposed to face one of the Israeli wrestlers or Matteo Fainsilver in the second round, and for this reason, he withdrew from the competition on the pretext of not making weight. Vafaipour, the champion of beach wrestling in Iran who also won the national qualifying competitions, faced Swiss wrestler Samuel Scherer in the first round of these competitions. If he had won against Scherer, he would have had to face Israeli Matteo Fainsilver in the next round. Fainsilver had a bye in the first round. If Vafaipour lost to the Swiss wrestler, he would have faced the loser of the match between the two Israeli wrestlers, Matteo Fainsilver and Yuri Kalashnikov, in the repechage bracket. Last year, Amir Mohammad Yazdani had to miss weight at the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade due to the presence of Matteo Fainsilver's brother, Josh Fainsilver, an Israeli, causing the silver medalist to lose another world medal easily. The UWW, following the previous practices of the International Federation, FILA, has so far ignored the interference of politics in sports by the Islamic Republic and the prevention of confrontations between Iranian and Israeli athletes. Apart from Rasul Khadem, an Olympic and world champion and former head of the Iranian Wrestling Federation, no official in Iranian sports has challenged the policy of not competing against Israeli opponents. Khadem, who could not continue lying in international sports forums as a member of the executive committee of the National Olympic Committee and the UWW board, was forced to resign from all his positions in sports. The policy of feigning and not making weight or being forced to lose abroad while maintaining the image of a champion defending the Palestinian people domestically has caused many athletes to miss out on global and international titles. The policy of not facing Israeli athletes in international competitions has become a nightmare for athletes in various fields for over four decades. However, Iranian athletes abroad have recently tried to be the voice of those inside the country. The Islamic Republic's efforts at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, preventing Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei from competing against an Israeli opponent, led to a four-year suspension of the Iranian Judo Federation by the Court of Arbitration for Sport due to the non-sporting policies of the Islamic Republic. Experts believe that Vafaipour is the first athlete to fall victim to the anti-Israeli policies of the Islamic Republic in 2024, but he is unlikely to be the last. The article also discusses the broader implications of Iranian athletes being forced to lose in order to avoid facing Israeli opponents, highlighting the ongoing political interference in sports.