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Sajjad Ganjzadeh, proper, competing in 2018. Picture: Martin Rulsch, Wikimedia Commons.
An Iranian karate athlete and Olympic gold medalist has criticized his dwelling nation for barring its athletes from competing towards Israeli opponents, the London-based Iran Worldwide reported.
Sajjad Ganjzadeh mentioned on Monday in a since-deleted Instagram submit that Iran’s ban on dealing with Israeli athletes limits Iranian rivals to solely matches in Asia. Israel has been banned from the Asian Video games for the reason that early Nineteen Eighties and has been refused permission to take part in different Asian competitions, similar to a squash event that was set to happen in Malaysia final yr.
The world karate champion referred to as on Iranian authorities to think about the athletes, not solely their ideologies and political points. “We can not tolerate this anymore. Not competing is tougher than competing,” he added, in accordance with the outlet.
Following the 2020 Tokyo Video games, Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated his nation’s coverage of not allowing Iranian athletes to compete towards Israelis. He has insisted that athletes refuse to face Israeli opponents even when they’re penalized by worldwide our bodies, promising to help these punished.
Whereas there isn’t any laws in place banning Iranian athletes from taking part in towards Israelis, stress from officers usually leads to athletes deliberately shedding or forfeiting matches to keep away from going head-to-head towards an athlete from Israel.
Roughly 30 Iranian athletes lately have defected from Iran and sought asylum in different international locations, in accordance with Iran Worldwide. These athletes embody judo champion Saeid Mollaei, world kickboxing champion Omid Ahmadisafa and powerlifter Amir Assadollahzadeh.
Mollaei was compelled to forfeit a match on the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo to keep away from competing towards Israeli judoka Sagi Muki. Following the incident, the Worldwide Judo Federation banned Iran’s judo groups from competing in worldwide competitions for 4 years. Mollaei now competes for Mongolia and gained a silver medal on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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