The tournament itself had actually finished when the incident occurred during the prize-giving ceremony.

Shortly after the players from Iran had been given their gold medals, there was a commotion among the crowd in the corridor of the sports hall in Örebro and emergency services were rushed to the scene.

There they found a man apparently aged around 35-40, who had been stabbed in the throat.

“Staff members were standing and cleaning up when something happened in a corridor. What I know is that the police and an ambulance came after someone was stabbed in the throat,” tournament director Leif Iron Kvist told Sportbladet newspaper.

Details are still sketchy but it appears that the injured man was a supporter of the Iran team. The police questioned everybody at the scene but at this stage, according to organisers, nobody has been apprehended for the attack.

“What we can confirm at this point is that a person has been taken to the hospital. Right now we have more patrols in place to collect witness statements, said police officer Jan Matérne.

Police enquiries are continuing, while the man’s condition was said not to be serious.

The incident was an unfortunate end to what had been described as a highly successful tournament. The competition, hosted by the Swedish Deaf Sports Federation, is a regular event, this year taking place in Örebro from November 18–26th.

Sixteen men’s teams and 11 women’s teams of players with impaired hearing took part, playing a sport that is described as a cross between indoor football and basketball.