An Iranian Judoka who allegedly threw a match to avoid competing against an Israeli opponent has sought asylum in Germany, according to a report by Radio Farda, Saturday.
Saeid Mollaei's request for asylum was confirmed by the International Judo Federation, which expressed support for the Iranian athlete.
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Earlier this week, Israel's Judo Association accused Iran of forcefully coercing Mollaei, ranked No. 1 in the world, into losing his semi-final match at the World Judo Championship in Tokyo to avoid facing Israel's Sagi Muki in the final.
IJA chairman Moshe Ponte later told Army Radio that Mollaei "intended to continue the contest, even if he had to face Sagi Muki at the final. We heard he'd asked the head of the Iranian judo association to ensure that his family was kept safe."
Ponte added: "From what we understand, within a short time Iranian intelligence officials came both to his home in Iran and to the judo arena and warned him."
Muki would go on to win the tournament, becoming the first Israeli male athlete to win a World Championship gold.
Iranian judo officials said in May that they would end the decades-long practice of boycotting matches against Israeli athletes and "fully respect the Olympic Charter and its nondiscrimination principle."
The International Judo Federation said in a statement at the time that the Iranian commitment came after several rounds of talks regarding a "disturbing phenomenon" in which Iranian athletes suddenly claim "injuries" or intentionally fail their weigh-ins to avoid meeting athletes from certain countries.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
