The Tokyo Olympics 2020 has been full of controversies and there seems to be no end as another Judo fighter has opted to withdraw in an effort to avoid facing an opponent from Israel.
The latest olympian to quit from the 2020 Tokyo games is Mohamed Abdalrasool who hails from Sudan and is an Olympian judo fighter. Moreover, the news comes just days after another fellow judo fighter from Algeria, Fethi Nourine, also refused to compete against an opponent from Israel.
Abdalrasool who is just 28 and has a world ranking of 469th says he refused to see eye to eye in the Olympics with an Israel opponent that goes by the name of Tohar Butbul who comes in with a world ranking of 7.
Both stars claim that their desire to withdraw from the competition is a means of protest against the brutal treatment of Israel towards Palestinians.
While Abdalrasool has refused to speak upon the matter in detail, there was certainly no shying away from fellow judo fighters from Algeria who had no problem in speaking his mind. “I just don’t want to get my hands dirty with this event. For this reason, I believe withdrawing is the best thing to do,” he explained.
The judo olympian went on to state how he is well aware that a lot of hard work and effort has gone into reaching the position where he stands today. But at the same time, he called out Israel for their behavior and also mentioned how the Palestinian cause was ‘bigger than all of that.’
“My position is and always has remained consistent in regards to the Palestinian issue. I simply reject normalization. If it costs me my absence from the current Olympic Games, then God will compensate,” he boldly added.
Surprisingly, this is definitely not the first time that the Olympian has walked out of the Olympic arena to avoid facing an Israeli opponent. And that’s because, in 2019, he showed similar behavior as he quit the championships for the very same reason.
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