Saeid Mollaei, an Iranian defector who took Olympic silver in men’s 81kg judo Tuesday, dedicated his medal to Israel, where he trained for the Tokyo Olympics. Mollaei, 29, and Muki, 25, have since become friends, and Mollaei said in March that he hoped to face Muki in the Olympic finals, according to his bio on the Tokyo Olympics website. It’s not the first time that sort of discrimination has appeared in the judo world. Last week, Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics rather than potentially face a matchup with Israel’s Tohar Butbul in the 73kg division. He had also quit the 2019 world championship tournament to avoid the same matchup.

Source: Fox News July 28, 2021 01:30 UTC