Tokyo Olympics: Algerian judoka sent home after refusing to face Israeli opponent
Today
Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine has been suspended from his sport and sent home after choosing to withdraw from the Olympics rather than face an Israeli.
Nourine was due to up against Israeli Tohar Butbul in the second round of the 73kg division if he got past Mohamed Abdalrasool of Sudan on Monday, but pulled out because of his support for Palestine.
Nourine said: “We worked a lot to reach the Olympics. But the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this.”
The International Judo Federation (IJF) have suspended Nourine and his coach Amar Benikhlef, who had said on Friday: “We were not lucky with the draw. We got an Israeli opponent and that’s why we had to retire. We made the right decision.”
In a statement the IJF said: “The IJF has a strict non-discrimination policy, promoting solidarity as a key principle, reinforced by the values of judo.”
Nourine’s withdrawal was ‘in total opposition to the philosophy of the International Judo Federation’, it said.
The Algerian Olympic Committee withdrew the accreditation for both the athlete and coach and would send them home, applying sanctions accordingly, the IJF said, without further elaboration on the type of sanctions.
Attempts to reach Nourine for comment were not successful.
Friday, Nourine told Algerian media that his political support for the Palestinian cause made it impossible for him to compete against Butbul.
It is not the first time that Nourine has withdrawn from competition to avoid facing an Israeli opponent. He pulled out of the 2019 world championships in Tokyo for the same reason.
Tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flared again this year as confrontations in contested Jerusalem triggered cross-border clashes.
Athletes from other countries, including Iran and Egypt, have also in the past refused to compete against Israelis.

What is this one

What a waste of effort reaching the Olympics... Shame on you and ur coach

The devil is scared... Light overshadows darkness.

Na their way

Piss people

Why mingling in an international competition when you don't share the values behind it of inclusiveness

Keep using Palestine to deceive yourselves, when last did you withdraw to support Syrians whom are slaughtered everyday by their Islamic president

They can not conceal their hate for israel they don't even care if the athlete is an israeli minority Muslim.

The hate is God's punishment to consume them from within while israel keeps soaring

It is on record that israel was refused admission into the Asia Football regional body because Arabs were majority

As faith would have it, this was what pushed israel to become a member of UEFA the best in the world better than shithole arab federation

Make him country collect all expenses already spent on the idiot.

This is why I love the Jews! They will never allow terrorists overrun their territory!
I hope Nigerian Christians are learning from the Jewish people....

Be so strong that your adversary will stay away from you

Werey somebody