Olympics- Iranian Exile Alizadeh Edged by Old Friend Kiyanichandeh

By Mathieu Rosemain

PARIS, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Former refugee Kimia Alizadeh bowed out to her old friend from back home in Iran, Nahid Kiyanichandeh, in a taekwondo featherweight contest at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, four years after she fled her homeland.

Alizadeh, who won a bronze medal for Iran at the 2016 Rio Olympics but now fights for Bulgaria, went down 10-7 5-6 7-7 to her former compatriot Kiyanichandeh in the round-of-16 contest at the Grand Palais.

Kiyanichandeh, who won the world title in the class last year, snatched victory after a tied third round when the referees judged the Iranian had won by superiority on the basis of her attempted attacks, techniques and other observable advantages.

The bout was rich in penalties, or “Gam-jeom”, and a showcase of the technical prowess the 26-year-olds developed when they came through the junior ranks together in Iran.

“It’s a very hard match, very hard match,” twice Olympic champion Hadi Saei, the head of Iran‘s taekwondo federation, said.

“Yes, (they’re) very close friends. But now it’s a competition, it’s a different country, different culture.”Asked if any political tensions were palpable during the fight, Saei said: “I don’t know, sometimes some people say this is politics, something like this. It’s not very important for Iran because she is in the Bulgaria team now.”

Alizadeh fled to Germany in 2020 after feeling she was being used as a propaganda tool. In an open letter that year, she said she was “one of millions of oppressed women in Iran“.

She competed at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago as part of the refugee team before finding a new home in Bulgaria.

In her open letter, Alizadeh condemned the compulsory wearing of the hijab for women in Iran, an issue that triggered widespread political demonstrations around the Islamic Republic in 2022-2023.

Alizadeh wore no hijab on Thursday but Kiyanichandeh did.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; editing by Clare Fallon)