Another Iranian taekwondo athlete Farzad Zolghadri announced on his Instagram page that he has migrated from Iran and will compete for Bulgaria.
“The best and most important decision of my life,” Zolghadri wrote on his Instagram, “borders are artificial, wherever dreams can be reached, wherever a smile can be brought on lips, that place would be my homeland.”
Earlier this week, Kimia Alizadeh, another taekwondo athlete and Iran’s only female Olympic medalist announced that she has moved to Germany, hoping to compete for German in the future.
“Even if I do not make it to the Olympics, it does not matter because I have made up my mind,” Alizadeh said at a meeting with journalists at a taekwondo club, “If the German government assists me I can go through this process as fast as possible, and I might be able to make it to the Olympics, too.”
She has criticized the Iranian regime and the country’s sport authorities over their ill-treatments of the female athletes.
In recent years, dozens of Iranian athletes have left the country, fleeing the government’s pressure.
In September, Saeed Mollaei, a judo champion moved to Germany after he was forced by Iranian officials to avoid competing Israeli judoka.
Alireza Faghani, an Iranian international soccer referee, also left Iran to Australia last year.
