Robert Avanesyan

Robert Avanesyan is an Israeli Greco-Roman wrestler of Armenian descent.

Avanesyan participated in the 2011 World Wrestling Championships in the 96 kilogram category, losing to eventual gold medal winner Elis Guri of Bulgaria in the round of 16. In the first round, he was matched against Ghasem Rezaei of Iran, however Rezaei fail to showed up to their match and, as a result, was disqualified and Avanesyan was declared the winner.

Rezaei had refused to compete against Avanesyan because he was an Israeli, an example of the Arab–Israeli conflict and it's impact on sports.