Iranian wrestler Karimachiani banned for throwing match

Karimachiani, right, has been banned for six months

Wrestling's global sporting body has banned an Iranian athlete for six months for deliberately throwing a match to avoid an Israeli opponent.

Alireza Karimachiani was winning a match against his Russian opponent in November's under-23 world championships when his coach ordered him to lose.

If he had won, he would have faced an Israeli athlete in the next round.

Iran does not recognise the state of Israel and bans its athletes from competing against Israelis.

Iran's wrestling federation has said it will challenge the ban, which was announced by the United World Wrestling Disciplinary Chamber on Friday.

"Karimachiani, on instruction of his coach Jamshidi, wilfully lost his 1/8 finals match against Alikhan Zhabrilov," the chamber said, referring to the Russian opponent in the match.

"Both wrestler and coach were found to have acted in direct violation of the International Wrestling Rules... and the UWW Disciplinary Regulations," it added.

Karimachiani's ban was set to run for two years from the date of the incident - making him eligible to compete in late May 2018.

His coach, Hamidreza Jamshidi, was also banned from the sport until the end of November 2019.

• Outrage as wrestler 'forced' to lose match

During the November 2017 match-up in Poland, Karimachiani was leading 3-2 in the fourth minute of the match.

Winning would have set him up against Israel's Uri Kalashnikov in the next bout.

Footage of the match appeared to contain a man's voice shouting instructions to lose, before the match is briefly paused for an exchange between athlete and coach.

In the final 45 seconds, Karimachiani is tackled to the ground before he rolls over and over, resulting in his opponent winning 14-3.

Many Iranians took to social media to express outrage at the spectacle.

More than 5,000 tweets were sent following the match with hashtags which translate as #lose_alireza, #I_am_telling_you_to_lose, and #you_must_lose.