Algerian–judoka Fethi Nourine refused to face his Israelis opponent as he quit from the Olympics~details below
- Nourine Fethi ‘Algerian’
The Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine quit from 2020 Tokyo Olympics after he discovered his opponents “Butbul” is an Israeli.
According Nourine Fethi “he quit because of his political support for the Palestinian cause which made him not to face his opponent ‘Butbul’ an Israeli.
Butbul’Israeli’
Recall that Palestinians and Israel had a territorial conflict that almost escalated to war. This was the major reason Nourine Fethi Algeria quit from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In his statement he said, “We worked a lot to reach the Olympics, and the news came as a shock, a thunder”, he added.
The 30-year-old was drawn against Sudan’s Mohamed Asdalrasool on Monday for his first match in the men’s 73kg class.
If he had won that match, he would have faced Butbul, who he had a first-round off, in the next round.
Nourine also withdrew from the world championships in 2019 for the same reason.
His coach Amar Ben Yaklif said in Algerian media saying, “We were unlucky with the draw. We got an Israeli opponent and that’s why we had to retire. We made the right decision.”
The conflict between the two sides has been going on for decades and has seen athletes from Iran and Egypt also previously refuse to compete against Israeli opponents because of Israeli and Palestinians conflict.
The opening ceremony for this year’s Olympic games took place on Friday, with fans not allowed in the national stadium for the 2019 Olympics due to COVID-19 pandemic.