Photo from IJF website
Iran’s refusal to allow its exponents to go up against Israeli opponents has earned them the wrath of the International Judo Federation (IJF).
The IJF have suspended the Iran Judo Federation from all competitions, administrative and social activities organised or authorised by the IJA and its affiliated bodies.
During the World Championships in Tokyo in August, Saeid Mollaei was instructed by the Iranian officials and the federation to withdraw from the below 81kg competition to avoid a potential match against Israeli judoka Muki Sagi.
Iran was already under protective suspension since September and the final decision yesterday would jeopardize their chances of participating at the Tokyo Olympics.
Read the full judgement from the IJF here.
The IJF wants Iran to give strong guarantees that they would respect the IJF statutes and also accept that their athletes fight against Israeli athletes in the future.
The Iranian federation, who has 21 days to appeal the decision, had earlier claimed that they did not instruct their athlete to withdraw and put the blame on the withdrawal entirely on the judoka.
This was in contrary to the statement made by Saeid, who had declared that he was instructed by the Iran Judo Federation’s President, the Iran National Olympic Committee President and the Iran national Coach to withdraw from competing to avoid a potential contest against Sagi.
Saeid had also claimed that before his third round bout against Olympic champion Khasan Khalmurzaev, he was ordered by the Iranian First Deputy Minister of Sport, Davar Zani to make the withdrawal.
According the IJF, Saeid’s allegations of threat made against himself and his family were also confirmed by another official, Abdullo Muradov, who was together with the judoka when he received the phone call, from the Deputy Minister as well as video chat and a phone call from the Iran National Olympic Committee’s President.
The 27-year-old Tehran native subsequently fled to Berlin where he is currently seeking asylum,
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