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No boycotts here Iranian wrestlers will compete in Goodwill Games
Posted: Sunday July 19, 1998 11:18 AM
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian wrestlers are to compete in the Goodwill Games in New York, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Sunday. Media reports had said earlier that Iran would boycott the games. But the Iranian Wrestling Federation said not participating would harm the country's standing in the wrestling world, the daily Iran News reported. IRNA said that in addition to the Goodwill Games, which were to open Sunday, the wrestlers also will participate in an international youth free-style competition in Nevada, starting August 6. The events are the latest in a series of athletic exchanges that have followed the election of Mohammad Khatami, a moderate, as Iran's president. Khatami, who took office in August, has called for greater cultural exchanges between Iran and the United States as a way of improving their often bitter relations. In February, a team of American wrestlers competed in a tournament in Tehran. In April, Iranians wrestled in a tournament in Oklahoma. That Iranian team, however, faced problems upon arrival in the United States, where the players were photographed and fingerprinted by immigration authorities. The U.S. State Department said federal law requires such procedures for visitors from countries that are not on friendly terms with the United States. The two countries met in the World Cup competition in France, with Iran defeating the United States 2-0. Relations between the two countries were ruptured in 1979 after Iranian militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage.
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