Second Olympic Athlete Avoids Facing Israeli Opponent for ‘Palestinian Cause’
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A second judoka announced his withdrawal from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics before facing Israel’s Tohar Butbul.
Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool dropped out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in support of the Palestinian cause.
He weighed in for the 73-kilogram division bout on Monday but then didn’t show up to face Butbul in their round 32 match.
Abdalrasool is the world’s 469th-ranked judoka in his weight class.
Algeria’s Fethi Nourine was sent home from the Tokyo Games and suspended by the IJF on Saturday after he also withdrew to avoid a potential matchup with Butbul.
“We worked a lot to reach the Olympics, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this,” said Nourine.
It was not the first time that Nourine has withdrawn from competition to avoid facing an Israeli opponent, after he pulled out of the 2019 world championships in Tokyo.
