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Algerian Olympian forfeits match to avoid competing against Israeli

Israeli judoka to face judo world champion after Algerian opponent drops out of match, after Tajikistani judoka snubbed Israeli rival.

By World Israel News Staff

An Algerian judoka forfeited his match with an Israeli competitor, removing himself from the championship and enabling his would-be opponent to advance to the finals and face the current world champion.

On Monday, Algeria’s Messaoud Dris was disqualified from competing in the under 73 kilogram (160.6 pounds) category, after he appeared at Monday’s weigh-in at 73.4 kilos.

Dris had been slated to compete against Israeli judoka Tohar Butbul. As a result of the disqualification, Butbul advances to the next round and will face the reigning world champion, Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan.

According to a report by Ouest France, Dris had planned on forfeiting the match, due to his country’s lack of diplomatic ties to Israel and refusal to recognize the Jewish state.

By ensuring that he was slightly over the weight maximum, however, Dris will not be automatically sanctioned for dropping out of the match, though he may still face punitive actions by the International Judo Federation if it determines he in fact did intentionally act to avoid facing an Israeli competitor for political reasons.

Should he be found to have intentionally disqualified himself to avoid facing an Israeli opponent, Dris could potentially be banned for life from competing in games sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee and the World Judo Federation.

Israel’s Olympic committee condemned Dris in a statement Monday, saying: “The Israeli delegation will continue to compete with the Olympic values in mind. We believe this kind of behavior has no place in the world of sport.”

This is not the first time an Algerian judoka has refused to compete against Butbul.

In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 as a result of the COVID pandemic, Fethi Nourine dropped out from the competition to avoid facing Butbul. Nourine’s coach, Amar Benikhlef received a 10-year suspension as a result.