Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei, who arrived in Israel on Sunday to compete in the Tel Aviv Grand Slam scheduled for Feb. 18-20, was castigated by his former boss on Tuesday for participating in the prestigious tournament.
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Moallaei, who fled Iran after speaking out against the regime more than a year ago, now has Mongolian citizenship. He has been warmly received in Israel by the Israel Judo Association and its president, Moshe Ponte.
On Tuesday, the Iranian dissident registered his third positive coronavirus test, as is required by all the athletes partaking in the competition, and trained for the first time on Israeli soil while meeting his friend, Israeli judoka and world champion Sagi Muki.
The head of the Iranian Judo Association, Arash Miresmaeili, however, slammed Mollaei.
"This isn't something to be proud of, rather a mark of shame that will remain with Saeid Mollaei for eternity. I apologize to the families of the martyrs and the Iranian people for this act and am ashamed that a foolish athlete who only considers his personal interests traveled to Tel Aviv, and what's more, is even proud of it. Saeid, you've turned your back on your homeland for a handful of dollars or a medal," Miresmaeili sad.
He continued: "It is a tremendous disgrace that a hollow athlete will have competed under the Mongolian flag while 90,000 Iranian judokas are suspended from all [international competitions]. Mollaei is the one who turned the story into a political issue, while we are trying not to make Iranian sport political. It's not for nothing that media outlets hostile to Iran are covering this visit extensively. He sold out his homeland solely for his own interests."
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