Iranian Refugee Saeid Mollaei Thanks Israel After Silver Medal Win

[Beastly Boy]

Mollaei left Iran in 2019 after exposing that authorities ordered him to throw a match in order to avoid facing an Israeli opponent.


https://www.thewrap.com/iranian-refugee-saeid-mollaei-thanks-israel-after-silver-medal-win/

Excerpt:

Mollaei is originally from Iran, where he was a citizen until 2019. That same year Mollaei exposed that Iranian authorities had ordered him to throw a match and intentionally lose a semi-final match in the 2019 Tokyo World Championships. The Iranian government feared Mollaei would face off against Israeli champion Sagi Muki and lose, which would make Iran look bad on the world stage.

The whole situation eventually came to light as the Judoka began talking about it, despite threats to his safety. This led to the International Judo Federation banning Iran from any future competitions in the World Championships.

Mollaei refused to forfeit the match and was then pushed out of Iran. He competed briefly as a German under a two-year visa, then accepted an offer of citizenship from Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga in 2019.

Hmmm... I am beginning to suspect that the recent wave of wrestlers from muslim countries refusing to face Israeli wrestlers have less to do with their devotion to the Palestinian cause and more to do with threats of retaliation coming from their respective "authorities".