The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Iran shuts its doors on US wrestlers
In response to ban imposed by Trump, the country bars American grapplers from this month’s World Cup
IRAN ON Friday banned U.S. wrestlers from participating in the Freestyle World Cup competition this month in response to President Donald Trump's executive order forbidding visas for Iranians, the official IRNA news agency reported.
A senior Iranian cleric vowed, meanwhile, that his country would continue its missile program, despite threats from the Trump administration that it was preparing to levy new sanctions.
IRNA quoted Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying a special committee reviewed the case of the U.S. wrestling team and 'eventually the visit by the U.S. freestyle wrestling team was opposed.'
The decision marks the first action taken by Iran in response to Trump's executive order banning visas for seven Muslim countries. Earlier this week, Iran said it would take retaliatory action.
Ghasemi said the policy of the new U.S. administration left Iran no other choice but to ban the wrestlers. The competition in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah is scheduled for February 16-17.
USA Wrestling had said it would send a team to the Freestyle World Cup, one of the most prestigious competitions in international wrestling.
U.S. freestyle wrestlers have competed in Iran since the 1998 Takhti Cup in Tehran, which followed an absence of nearly 20 years. Since then, Americans have attended Iran-hosted wrestling competitions 15 times. The American athletes were warmly welcomed by cheerful Iranian spectators and sport centers were packed as they appeared on the mats to compete.
The Iranians, for their part, have made 16 visits to the U.S. as guests of USA Wrestling since the 1990s. Wrestling is extremely popular in Iran and is rooted in an ancient practice of combining the sport with other physical education and meditation.
Paris Olympic bid under cloud
The Paris bid to host the 2024 Olympics suffered an untimely setback on Friday when a French soldier wounded a man armed with a machete as he tried to enter the Louvre museum.
Paris was submitting its bid to the International Olympic Committee on Friday, a day set to culminate in the evening with a launch show at the Eiffel Tower, the last of a series of demos that started in the morning at a school in the Seine Saint-denis suburban area.
Officials said the events would go ahead as planned despite the Louvre incident, in which police said a man carrying two bags and shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) rushed at police and soldiers before being shot near the museum's shopping mall. The man was alive but seriously wounded after what the government said appeared to be a terrorist attack.
"The programme is unchanged," a spokesperson for Paris 2024 said. "We were already on high alert. The sites have already been secured with notably anti-bomb squads checking the facilities."
Paris is competing with Los Angeles and Budapest to host the 2024 Olympics. France has been hit by a series of militant Islamist attacks over the past two years in which more than 230 people have been killed.