Mohammad Babulfath
Personal information
Full nameMohammad Reza Babulfath
Nationality Sweden
Born (1978-11-17) 17 November 1978 (age 45)
Tehran, Iran
Height1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Weight74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleGreco-Roman
ClubSpårvägens IK
CoachRyszard Swierad

Mohammad Reza Babulfath (born November 17, 1978, in Tehran, Iran) is a retired amateur Iranian Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's middleweight category.[1] Babulfath obtained a fourth position in the 74-kg division at the 2003 European Championships in Riga, Latvia, and also represented his naturalized homeland Sweden at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Before his sporting career ended in 2008, Babulfath trained for Spårvägens Sports Club (Swedish: Spårvägens Idrottsällskap) in Stockholm, under Polish-born personal coach Ryszard Swierad.[2][3]

Babulfath qualified for his naturalized Swedish squad in the men's 74 kg class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Earlier in the process, he placed third from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro to guarantee a spot on Sweden's Olympic wrestling team.[4][5] He lost his opening match 4–0 to Germany's Konstantin Schneider and endured a daunting 9–0 defeat from eventual Olympic bronze medalist Varteres Samurgashev of Russia, that left him severely injured and unable to compete against Ukraine's Volodymyr Shatskykh on his final bout of the prelim pool. Placing him at the bottom of the pool and last out of 20 wrestlers in the final standings, Babulfath failed to advance to the quarterfinals.[6][7][8]

Babulfath also sought to compete on his second bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but missed a spot from the Olympic Qualification Tournament and suddenly retired from his sporting career.[9] Currently, he serves as an assistant coach for IK Sparta in Stockholm and trains for numerous Swedish wrestlers, including fellow Olympian Ara Abrahamian.[10]

References

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mohammad Babulfath". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Babulfath och Lidberg vidare i EM" [Babulfath and Lidberg makes further into European Champs] (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 7 March 2004. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  3. ^ Miller, Peggy (23 July 2005). "Spirit World". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  4. ^ Abbott, Gary (22 July 2004). "Olympic Games preview at 74 kg/163 lbs. in men's Greco-Roman". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  5. ^ "Waldner fortfarande utanför OS" [Waldner is still waitlisted for the Olympic Games] (in Swedish). Östgöta Correspondenten. 11 March 2004. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 74kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Lidberg och Babulfath utslagna ur OS" [Lidberg and Babulfath knocked out of Olympics] (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. 25 August 2004. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Brottarmästaren Lidberg utslagen direkt" [Master wrestler Lidberg eliminated directly] (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 25 August 2004. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Inga OS-platser för brottarna" [No Olympic places for wrestlers] (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 11 May 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  10. ^ "Han hoppas på OS i London" [He hopes for London Olympics] (in Swedish). Sydsvenskan. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2014.

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