Iran's suspension from all world judo competitions confirmed
The World Judo Federation announced that the suspension of the Iranian Judo Federation from participating in all competitions and administrative and civic activities under the management of the organization has been confirmed. Iran is accused of not adhering to the rules and charter of the World Judo Federation.
IRNA News Agency wrote in a report on the suspension of Iranian judo by the World Judo Federation Disciplinary Committee: "Following the events that occurred during the most recent 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, the World Judo Federation Disciplinary Committee further announced that the Iranian Judo Federation will not be allowed to participate in competitions under the authority of this global body until it provides a firm guarantee that it will adhere to the regulations and charter of the World Judo Federation."
"Sports Three" also wrote in a similar report: "After the events that happened to Saeed Mollaei at the World Championships in Japan, the Iranian Judo Federation was temporarily suspended by the World Federation."
On September 17 of this year, the World Judo Federation issued a ruling entitled "preventive suspension" that suspended the Iranian Judo Federation from all competitions and executive and civil activities organized by this global body and its affiliated unions.
This ruling was met with protests from the Iranian Federation, and Seyyed Reza Salehi Amiri, the head of the Iranian National Olympic Committee, and Arash Mirasmaeili, the head of the Islamic Republic Judo Federation, protested the ruling.
The reason for the suspension of Iranian judo was Saeed Mollaei’s “forced loss” in Japan for not facing an Israeli opponent and similar incidents of this behavior at the 2004 Olympics. The World Judo Federation accused the Islamic Republic of ignoring the Olympic Charter and interfering with political issues in the sport. The World Judo Federation’s disciplinary commission wrote in a statement issued at the time that it had “strong reasons” that the Iranian federation would commit such violations again in the future.
The World Judo Federation has said that the Iranian federation has 21 days to appeal this ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Saeed Mollaei, the 28-year-old world judo champion, revealed that the head of the National Olympic Committee and the deputy minister of sports had called him to lose to his Kazakh opponent in the semi-finals so that he would not have to compete with an Israeli judoka. Mollaei never returned to Iran after his deliberate defeat in the match.
Some Iranian officials have attributed the decision of the World Judo Federation to "the friendly relations between the President of the World Judo Federation and the officials of the Zionist regime."
Last month, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, head of the parliamentary sports faction, told ISNA: "With the consultations that Iranian sports officials had with international sports organizations after the loss of our country's judo champion, Mr. Saeed Mollaei, it was expected that the arguments of the country's official sports officials would be taken into account and that a decision would not be made so quickly regarding the suspension of Iranian judo, so that suspicions of political activity, including the friendly relations of the head of the World Judo Federation with officials of the Zionist regime, would not cast this decision in an aura of ambiguity."
