Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby was defeated by Israel’s Or Sasson in a 100-kilogram match at the Rio Olympics today.
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El Shehaby was beaten by Or Sasson in their heavyweight first round encounter but at the end of the bout, he refused to either bow to the Israeli or shake his hand.
Israel’s Or Sasson defeated Islam el-Shahabi despite receiving a penalty, finishing his opponent with a wazari and ultimately an ippon.
When Sasson was officially declared the victor, he tried multiple times to bow to El Shehaby, who refused each time.
The referee then called El Shehaby back to the mat and obliged to him bow; El Shehaby gave a quick nod of his head.
He refused to comment afterwards.
It is customary in judo to both bow to opponents – a sign of respect in Japan – and shake hands after a bout is over, AFP noted.
A spokesman for the International Judo Federation said it was a major step that the fight even took place because of political tensions. “This is already a big improvement that Arabic countries accept to be opposed to Israel”, he said.
“There is no obligation for shaking hands at the end of the fight, but it is compulsory to bow, that’s why the Egyptian was called back to bow and he did”.
Prior to the fight, El Shahaby had come under pressure from Islamist-leaning and nationalist voices in Egypt to withdraw entirely.
TV host Mataz Matar had said: “Egypt will cry”. If you lose, you will shame an entire nation and yourself.
But the head of the Egyptian Olympic Committee told media that “Islam will play the match without troubles”.
Asked whether the two athletes will shake hands, Hatab said, “the delegation doesn’t allow mixing politics with sports”. Egypt’s minister for youth and sports was quoted as saying, “we have to accept competition with everyone regardless of anything”.
Israel and Egypt have had formal bilateral relations since the 1979 Camp David peace agreement, although the Jewish state remains deeply unpopular on the Arab country’s street.
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