Thomas Patrick Gilman (bottom) of the United States combats with Reza Atrinagharchi of Iran during the wrestling men's freestyle 57kg bronze medal match at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Chiba, Japan, Aug. 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Yuguo)
TEHRAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian government on Friday condemned the United States' decision not to issue visas to some members of the Iranian national wrestling team.
Ali Bahadori Jahromi, the spokesman of the Iranian government, tweeted that the change of U.S. administrations does not make any difference in Washington's "anti-people and illegal" approaches.
On Thursday, President of Iran's Wrestling Federation Alireza Dabir announced that the Iranian national team's trip to Texas state of the U.S. had been canceled.
David Morris Taylor III (top) of the United States competes against Hassan Yazdanicharati of Iran during the wrestling men's freestyle 86kg final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Chiba, Japan, Aug. 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen)
In an email to his American counterpart Bruce Baumgartner, Dabir said six Iranian wrestlers' U.S. visa requests were denied despite having submitted the required documents.
The Iranian and American freestyle wrestling teams were scheduled to have matches on Feb. 12 at the formal invitation of the U.S. side.
The match was widely assumed to be part of sports diplomacy efforts to ease tensions between the two rivals. ■
