Saeid Mollaei

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Saeid Mollaei at the 2018 Asian Games

Saeid Mollaei (born January 5, 1992 in Tehran ) is an Iranian judoka . In 2018 he won the world title in light middleweight, the weight class up to 81 kilograms. He has been a Mongolian citizen since 2019 .

Career

The 1.76 m tall Mollaei fought in the lightweight until 2014. In 2011 he won a bronze medal at the U20 Asian Championships. Two years later he finished fifth at the Asian Championships.

In 2015 he moved to light middleweight. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 Asian Championships after losing to the Japanese in the quarter-finals. A year later he lost to the Lebanese Nacif Elias in the semi-finals of the Asian Championships , with a victory over the Mongols Uuganbaatar Otgonbaatar , Mollaei secured a bronze medal as in the previous year. At the 2016 Olympic Games he was eliminated from Russia in his first fight against the later Olympic champion Khassan Chalmursajew .

In 2017 Mollaei reached the final of the Asian Championships and won silver behind the Japanese Sōtarō Fujiwara . At the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, he lost to the Italian Matteo Marconcini in the semifinals . With a victory over the Hungarian László Csoknyai Mollaei secured a bronze medal. At the 2018 Asian Games , he reached the final by defeating South Korean Lee Seung-su , where he was defeated by Kazakhs Didar Khamza . Three and a half weeks later he won the quarter-finals against the Belgian Matthias Casse and in the semifinals against the Turkish Vedat Albayrak at the World Championships in Baku . With his final victory over Sōtarō Fujiwara, Mollaei won the first world title for Iran since Ārash Miresmāeli 2003.

Controversy with the Iranian Ministry of Sports

During the Judo World Championships 2019 in Tokyo, Mollaei, who started as the defending champion and favorite, received two calls from the Iranian Ministry of Sports, which wanted him to deliberately withdraw from the competition under threat of consequences for him and his family. The background was that Mollaei in forecasted tournament, in the final against the Israeli judoka Sagi Muki would have to play. Iranian athletes have been asked for decades to boycott competitions with Israeli athletes. However, Mollaei resisted the order. However, he eventually lost his semi-final fight against the Belgian Matthias Casse , so the final against Sagi Muki (who ultimately won against the Belgian Casse) did not take place. Mollaei then congratulated the victorious Muki on Instagram. After the tournament, Mollaei moved to Germany. In December 2019, Mollaei received a Mongolian passport unbureaucratically at the instigation of the Mongolian President Chaltmaagiin Battulga , a former national judo association chairman . This means that Mollaei, who was ranked third in the world at the time, was able to participate in the Qingdao Masters in December 2019 for the Mongolian Association. Due to the conflict between the Iranian Ministry of Sports and Mollaei, the Iranian Judo Federation was initially temporarily suspended by the World Federation, which at the end of October 2019 resulted in permanent exclusion from all international competitions for violating the Code of Ethics and the Olympic Charter .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Match balance at judoinside.com
  2. ↑ Saeid Mollaei wins historic world title for Iran at judoinside.com
  3. ↑ SWR: Judo star Saeid Mollaei: Olympic gold against suffering. September 12, 2019, accessed September 12, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Judoinside.com: Saeid Mollaei gets Mongolian passport. December 1, 2019, accessed January 12, 2020 .
  5. ↑ World Judo Association blocks Iran , deutschlandfunk.de of October 22, 2019, accessed January 21, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Mollaei, Saeid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian judoka
DATE OF BIRTH 5th January 1992
PLACE OF BIRTH Tehran