Israel cheers for exiled Iranian judo master
Israelis have embraced exiled Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei, who defected for his sport and recently competed in Tel Aviv.
Israel has won a small victory against Iran — at least on the judo mat. While the international community is all riled up arguing over Iran’s nuclear program and Israel’s opposition to it, a sporting event introduced a smidgen of optimism to the longstanding quarrel. Exiled Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei arrived in Tel Aviv last week to take part in the international judo community’s Grand Slam event on Feb. 18-20. With enthusiastic support from his Israeli fans, he made it to the finals in his weight class and ended up winning a silver medal.
Iran, like several Arab states, forbids its athletes from competing against Israeli rivals. For years, it instructed them to withdraw from competitions rather than take on an Israeli opponent. Some were told to fake illness or injury; others were ordered to throw matches.
In 2017, Alireza Karimi Machiani, an outstanding Iranian wrestler, threw his match against a Russian rival so that he would not have to wrestle Israeli Yuri Kalashnikov in the world championship. Karimi was quoted as saying, “At that moment, it seemed to me as if my whole world had ended.’’
Mollaei, a world champion since 2018, made headlines in the Grand Slam tournament in Paris two years ago, when he was forced to lose intentionally at an early stage of the competition to ensure that he would not have to compete against Israeli judoka Sagi Muki. Though he managed to win a bronze medal, Mollaei did not go up to the podium to accept it, so that he would not have to stand beside Muki, who ended up winning the gold. Frustrated, Mollaei posted a photo of the Iranian and Israeli flags in an Instagram post that has since been removed.
