Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei in Paris, Feb. 10, 2019. (Youtube)
The case began when former world champion Saeid Mollaei left the Iranian team in 2019, saying he was ordered to lose world championships matches to avoid facing Israelis.
By Associated Press
Iran was suspended by judo’s world governing body on Thursday as punishment for refusing to let its athletes face opponents from Israel.
The International Judo Federation imposed a four-year ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered a disciplinary review last month which said a previous indefinite ban was not allowed.
The CAS judges had been tough on Iranian officials from the national Olympic and judo bodies and government sports ministry, saying the case “clearly reveals an institutionalized scheme” to prevent athletes facing Israelis.
The case began when former world champion Saeid Mollaei left the Iranian team in 2019, claiming he was ordered to lose world championships matches to avoid facing Israelis.
The ban — backdated to start in 2019 and run into September 2023 — is provisional and can be lifted if the Iranian judo federation respects its rules on discrimination and accepts to compete with Israel.
The IJF said Thursday it “continues to defend the fundamental human values and rights of all its members, with a special emphasis on the rights of athletes and reiterates its commitment to fight against any form of discrimination in the sport of judo.”
Until the Iranian policy toward Israel changes, its judokas cannot compete at IJF events, including world championships, and officials cannot take part in the world governing body’s work.
The ban does not affect Iranian judokas going to the Tokyo Olympics because that team is sent by the national Olympic body and not the national judo federation.
Iranian officials can again challenge the IJF verdict at CAS.
Mollaei fled to Germany in 2019 and has since switched national eligibility to compete for Mongolia in a move approved by the International Olympic Committee.
IDF troops demolished the homes of two terrorists who carried out three explosive attacks targeting…
This week, Israel facilitated the departure of 214 Gaza residents, along with their escorts, through…
This year’s volume of double envelopes amounts to roughly 15 seats’ worth of votes.
At anti-Israel rapper Macklemore’s Free Palestine tour, Irish singer Hozier took the stage to publicly…
The sources from which artificial intelligence learns history are resolutely being rewritten by terror-supporters in…
One way the Trump administration could counter the efforts of a Democrat-controlled Congress is by…