Soccer stars Lionel Messi and Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior and their team, Paris Saint-Germain played against fellow French team FC Nantes at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, as part of the French Super Cup, or Trophée des Champions, played annually between the winner of Ligue 1 and the holder of the Coupe de France.

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This is the second consecutive year in which Israel hosts the game in Bloomfield Stadium, which can accommodate some 30,000 fans.

Messi, a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, opened the scoring and Neymar scored twice, as the two led Paris Saint-Germain to win againt Nantes, 4-0.

In November 2019, Messi made his first visit to the Jewish state, despite a Palestinian protest campaign aimed at preventing his trip.

He arrived with fellow Argentine national players for a friendly game against Uruguay.

Meanwhile, Italian club AS Roma defeated English Premier League's Tottenham Hotspurs 1-0 in an exhibition match on Saturday night at Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa.

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In an interview with Israel Hayom following the Israeli rhythmic gymnast's historic Olympic win, Linoy Ashram's coach Ayelet Zussman said, "It's really unbelievable because beyond the history we made with two gymnasts in the finals, it's history to be standing up there on the Olympic podium, it's beyond anything I could have imagined."

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As for her relationship with Ashram, Zussman said: "I am both a coach and a friend, and I both demand and embrace, and I get angry and give kisses. It depends on the situation, but my love for her is unconditional."

Asked what about Ashram made her an Olympic champion, Zussman said: "Her ambition, competitiveness. She works very hard. She's overcome injuries she's been dealing with for years. This wasn't someone who was an underdog. She's been winning medals since 2017."

As for Ashram's final ribbon performance, she said, "It's important for there to be something unique about each routine. The choice of music was precisely for this moment, and the choice of [the song] 'Hava Nagaila' was very important.

"She did everything so well on the path to [hearing the Israeli] national anthem [play in the Olympic arena], and I am so happy," she said.

Ashram's family members were clearly emotional in a phone call with the gymnast immediately after her historic win.

Her mother, Hedva, said: "You did it. I always believed in you.

In a reference to the legendary retired Romanian five-time Olympic gold medalist, she said, "I always said you would be Israel's Nadia Comaneci."

"Congratulations! We're so proud of you. All of us here, we're crying too," Ashram's father, Oren, informed her in their call.

Powerhouse rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won the gold medal in the rhythmic gymnastics individual competition, ending Russia's decades-long dominance in the sport and bringing Israel its second Olympic gold medal.

Ashram, 22, edged out Russian twins Dina and Arina Averina, who were favorites going into Tokyo. Dina placed second and Arina fell to fourth place. Alina Harnasko of Belarus won the bronze medal.

Her nearly flawless performance included a club routine set to Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" and dancing with a ribbon to a techno remix of "Hava Nagila."

She is set to receive a 500,000 shekel ($155,380) grant from the Israeli Olympic Committee for her achievement.

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Powerhouse rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won the gold medal in the rhythmic gymnastics individual competition, ending Russia's decades-long dominance in the sport and bringing Israel its second Olympic gold medal.

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Ashram, 22, edged out Russian twins Dina and Arina Averina, who were favorites going into Tokyo. Dina placed second and Arina fell to fourth place. Alina Harnasko of Belarus won the bronze medal.

Russia has swept the rhythmic gymnastics gold medals in every Olympics since 2000.

But Ashram's victory Saturday breaks their streak. Her nearly flawless performance included a club routine set to Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" and dancing with a ribbon to a techno remix of "Hava Nagila."

On Friday, Ashram and fellow teammate Nicol Zelikman both qualified for the final round after each performed four routines, one each with the hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon.

Ashram's first round had a shaky start. She dropped her hoop at the end of the routine, and received a lesser score of 23.500 points.

She made a comeback with her ball routine, scoring the highest 29.250 points. She received 27.850 and 23.500 points for her club and ribbon performances respectively, gaining 103.100 in the qualifiers altogether. She ranked third in Friday's qualifiers.

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Israeli rhythmic gymnasts Linoy Ashram and Nicol Zelikman both qualified Friday in the Tokyo Olympics qualifying round, earning their spot at Saturday's final round in which they will vie for an Olympic medal.

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The two athletes performed four routines each – hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon.

Ashram's first round had a shaky start. The gymnast dropped her hoop at the end of the routine, and received a lesser score of 23.500 points.

She made a comeback with her ball routine, scoring the highest 29.250 points. She received 27.850 and 23.500 points for her club and ribbon performances respectively, gaining 103.100 in the qualifiers altogether. She ranked third in Friday's qualifiers.

Zelikman started off her hoop routine strong and received 24.350 points. She scored 25.500 point in her ball routine, 24.950 in the clubs and 21.100 in the ribbon routine. Altogether, she scored 95.900 and ranked seventh in the qualifiers.

Both athletes made it into the finals and will compete for an Olympic medal on Saturday.

So far, Israel's Olympic team has won three medals: Gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won Israel's second-ever Olympic gold medal, the judo team won bronze on Saturday, and taekwodnoin Avishag Semberg won bronze.

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Beating his own expectations, Israeli athlete Matan Roditi came in fourth in the 10-kilometer swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympics Thursday.

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Out of the 26 competitors, the 22-year-old athlete expected to finish in the top eight. Surprising his Olympic team, Roditi finished the competition in 1:49:01.1, coming in fourth.

"It's an incredible accomplishment," he said in an interview after the competition. "My goal was to finish in the top eight. Throughout the race, I tried to save my energy and [being in front of the field] gave me the boost I needed at the finish."

To put Roditi's achievement into perspective, he beat two medalists from the 2016 Rio Olympics: Ferry Weertman from the Netherlands who won a gold medal in Rio and came in seventh this time, and France's Marc-Antoine Olivier, who won a bronze medal in 2016 and came in sixth in Tokyo.

Raditi crossed the finish line just 23.8 seconds shy of Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri who won the bronze. Germany's Florian Wellbrock won the gold (1:48:33.7) and Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky the silver (1:48:59.0).

The young swimmer, who became the first Israeli to participate in the 10-kilometer open water marathon, admitted that he would still have to work hard to get a medal but said he was "optimistic for the next Olympics."

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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Israel scored its second Olympic medal on Saturday as the Jewish state's mixed judo team defeated the Russian Olympic Committee to win the bronze.

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The win followed a difficult week for Israeli judokas, who were handed one defeat after another in the Games, coming within reach of medals in all events but losing out to their rivals time and again.

The win brings Israel's overall tally of Olympic medals to 11.

The Tokyo Games are the first to feature the mixed team event in the consolation round for judo.

#ISR | #Bronze | #Judo

Congrats to Israel - bronze medal winners in the mixed team event!#StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | @Judo pic.twitter.com/ARd9Re7Lzv

— Olympics (@Olympics) July 31, 2021

In the battle for bronze, Israeli judoka Gili Sharir lost to Madina Taimazova, giving a 1:0 lead to the Russians.

Sagi Muki then evened the score, dealing ROC judoka Mikhail Igolnikov a defeat.

Raz Hershko went to the mat third, giving Israel the lead with a 2:1 score.

Peter Paltchik took the team up to a score of 3:1.

The Olympic medal was secured by female judoka Timna Nelson-Levy, who gave Israel a 4:1 win.

"Everyone gave their heart and soul and that is what we won here," Muki told reporters after the victory. "To come here after everyone failed in the individual events… it required a lot of strength"

Nelson-Levy noted, "We showed our worth as a team."

The week's poor performance at the Olympics saw many criticize Israeli judokas, considered among the nation's strongest hope for medals in the 2020 Games.

"This is a huge failure. Conclusions must be drawn as to how this collapse happened at the Olympics," an unnamed Israeli delegation official told local media.

"It can't be seen as one-time failure if all of our judokas lost to inferior rivals. This is a systemic issue," he said.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett congratulated the team, tweeting, "After Sagi Muki's loss last week, I spoke to him. It was important for me to tell him that I'm proud of him and the example he is for the youth. Today Muki and his teammates on the judo team showed us all how to pick yourself up from a fall! Way to go, Israel is proud of you!"

President Isaac Herzog also expresses pride in the team, tweeting, "What an exciting day for the Israeli judo team! The members of Israel's judo team went through arduous and challenging moments together and ... you brought immense honor to the State of Israel. We are all proud of you."

The series of individual defeats was also criticized by the Israeli Olympic Committee, which said in a statement that"conclusions will only be drawn at the end of the Games when we return to Israel."

Last week saw Israeli Olympian Avishag Samberg score Israel its first medal in the Tokyo Games, winning the bronze in taekwondo. The 19-year-old was the first taekwondoin to ever represent Israel in this sport in the Olympics.

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Despite heavy pressure to boycott her scheduled match against Israel's Raz Hershko on Friday, judoka Tahani al-Qahtani of Saudi Arabia chose to face off against Hershko in the women's 78 kg. category of the Tokyo Olympics.

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Hershko beat Al-Qahtani, but went on to be eliminated from the Tokyo Games. After the match, Hershko and Al-Qahtani shared a warm, non-combative embrace.

"I'm happy this match took place. After the match, we talked a little in the hall, but she [Al-Qahtani] didn't want the media to document it. We shook hands and hugged, we talked about the match, about the situation in her country," Hershko said.

"I told her I understood, and that she was brave. I'm happy she eventually stood up, despite everything, and fought like she should. I'm happy that the sport won out," Hershko added.

As of Monday, it was still unclear whether or not Al-Qahtani would face Hershko. Despite the political pressure on her to forgo the match, a number of social media users opined that she should compete, whether because they felt that the Olympics are apolitical or because they wanted to see her "beat the devil."

The Hershko-Al-Qahtani match came after Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine was sent home from the games for refusing to compete against Isarel's Tohar Butbul.

The International Judo Federation called Nourine's stance "in total opposition to the philosophy of the IJF. The IJF has a strict non-discrimination policy, promoting solidarity as a key principle."

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US gymnast Simone Biles, who amazed the world on Tuesday when she decided to pull out of the team all-around competition on Tuesday due to mental strain, costing the US team a gold medal, has decided to forgo the final individual all-around event, she announced Wednesday.

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USA Gymnastics published a message on Twitter explaining that "After further medical evaluation, Simon Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition. We wholeheartedly support Simone's decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being."

Biles will be replaced by Jade Carey, who placed ninth in the qualifications.

International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams had said earlier on Wednesday the IOC has "huge respect and support" for Biles.

Adams said mental health remained a big issue and that it was a matter the organization had been working on for some time.

IOC President Thomas Bach was seen in deep conversation with Biles on the floor of the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on Tuesday before handing out medals.

Biles was to appear in all six gymnastics event finals and a sweep of the gold medals would have given her 10, making her the most accomplished woman Olympian in any sport.

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Israeli Judoka Sagi Muki lost his match in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics Tuesday, meaning he will not progress further in the tournament.

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Muki was bested by Austrian judoka Shamil Borchashvili in the under 81-kilogram event.

Muki won the 2019 World Champions for judo, and was one of Israel's strongest contenders in the running for a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

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An Algerian judo athlete will be sent home from the Tokyo Olympics after he withdrew from the competition to avoid potentially facing an Israeli opponent.

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Fethi Nourine and his coach, Amar Benikhlef, told Algerian media they were withdrawing to avoid a possible second-round matchup with Israel's Tohar Butbul in the men's 73 kg division on Monday. Nourine was drawn to face Sudan's Mohamed Abdalrasool in the opening round, with the winner facing Butbul, the fifth seed.

The International Judo Federation's executive committee has temporarily suspended Nourine and Benikhlef, who are likely to face sanctions beyond the Olympics, which began Saturday. The Algerian Olympic committee then withdrew both men's accreditation and made plans to send them home.

The IJF said Nourine's position was "in total opposition to the philosophy of the International Judo Federation. The IJF has a strict non-discrimination policy, promoting solidarity as a key principle, reinforced by the values of judo."

Nourine and Benikhlef attribute their stance to their political support for Palestinians.

Nourine also quit the World Judo Championships in 2019 right before he was scheduled to face Butbul, who is a much more accomplished judo athlete than Nourine. Those world championships were held in Tokyo at the Budokan, the site of the Olympic judo tournament.

Judo's world governing body has been firm in its anti-discrimination policies and strong support of Israel's right to compete in recent years.

In April, the IJF suspended Iran for four years because the nation refused to allow its fighters to face Israelis. The IJF said Iran's policies were revealed when former Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei claimed he was ordered to lose in the semifinals of the 2019 world championships in Tokyo to avoid potentially facing Israeli world champion Sagi Muki in the finals.

The IJF called Iran's policy "a serious breach and gross violation of the statutes of the IJF, its legitimate interests, its principles and objectives." Iran's ban runs through September 2023.

The IJF aided Mollaei's departure for Germany after the controversy, and he now represents Mongolia. He will compete Tuesday at the Olympics.

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