Ahead of El Shehaby’s Olympic opener a TV host on an Al-Sharq Islamist-leaning network urged him to pull out. “Egypt will be sad and you will be seen as a traitor and a normalizer in the eyes of your people”.
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An Egyptian judoka was booed loudly following his refusal to shake hands with his Israeli opponent after suffering defeat in the opening round of the Rio Olympic Games.
In response, a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee said they “will review the case to figure out exactly what happened”. The two men glowered at each other and the crowd jeered El Shehaby as the two men left the mats. In judo, competitors typically shake hands or bow following matches.
However, new rumours emerged a few days ago, suggesting that Shehaby planned not to shake his Israeli counterpart’s hand at the end of the fight, which is common civility during sporting encounters. “That is very disappointing”, BBC judo commentator Mark Doran said. Sasson, who won a bronze medal, said the move wasn’t a complete surprise.
The referee called him back but the Egyptian gave only a curt nod. He refused to comment afterwards.
But the International Judo Federation says it’s a sign of progress that the match even took place.
According to The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication Maariv, el-Shehaby was known in Egypt as the most fervently anti-Israel sportsmen competing at the 2016 Olympic games.
“This is already a big improvement that Arabic countries accept to [fight] Israel”, said a spokesman.
Tweet reads: “Joud Fahmy suffered injuries in her hand and foot during training, and the medical committee recommended she not participate in the judo competition in the Rio Olympics today”.
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Earlier this week, Israeli judoka Yarden Gerbi defeated Japan’s Miku Tashiro to win the bronze medal in the women’s 63 kilogram weight class, Israel’s first medal at the Rio Olympics.
