Judo: Iranian defector overcomes Israeli 'friend' in their first official bout
Iran forced Saeid Mollaei to throw his matches in order to avoid facing the Israeli
Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei, who in 2019 was pressured by Iranian authorities to drop out of his bouts to avoid a potential matchup against Israel's Sagi Muki, defeated the Israeli on Saturday in their first official match.
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The emotional occasion took place at the 2022 Judo Grand Slam held in Hungary, where Mollaei, number nine in world ranking, is representing Azerbaijan.
Muki, sixteenth in the world ranking, said before the bout that the shared experience made the two "friends for life."
“It is so hard to fight against him,” Mollaei said after the match, to which Muki replied “Now I hope he wins the gold."
Mollaei, a 2018 world champion, escaped to Germany where he was granted asylum after claiming he was coerced by Iranian officials to throw his match at the 2019 World Judo Championship in Tokyo to avoid facing off against Muki.
During his visit to Israel last year, Mollaei said that “Sagi is my friend. We may fight on the tatami, but before the tatami and away from the tatami, we will always be friends. I hope that the next time we face off against each other will be in the Olympic finals.’’
The International Judo Federation slapped Iran with a lengthy ban following the debacle, eventually causing its national judo association to end its longstanding policy of avoid facing Israelis in Olympic competitions.