TEHRAN – Ali Moradi was forced to leave his post as president of Iran’s Weightlifting Federation.

Moradi was re-elected as head of Iran Weightlifting Federation in July 2019 but the result of the elections was annulled by the Iran’s Administrative Justice Court.

Moradi was a candidate for the Presidency of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) but he cannot participate in the elections scheduled for June 25-26 in Tirana, Albania.

He was under pressure from the country’s weightlifting society and the veteran weightlifters have blamed him over the past years.

Moradi served as general secretary of Asian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) and head of Iran federation for many years.

Iran’s 2012 Olympic gold medal winner Behdad Salimi and former Iran coach Kourosh Bagheri say that Moradi is responsible for athletes’ setback in the sport.

Yekta Jamali, first Iranian female weightlifter who won medals in international tournaments, left Iran’s delegation at the World Junior Weightlifting Championship in Greece in May and sought asylum in Germany.

Sajad Anoushiravani, who won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the +105 kg category, was chosen as the acting president of the federation by Iran’s Sports Ministry.