Israel’s Or Sasson won a bronze medal in judo Friday at the Rio Olympics, hours after being snubbed by an Egyptian opponent who refused to shake his hand after their match. According to custom, judo players typically bow or shake hands, as a sign of respect in the Japanese martial art. Shehaby was booed copiously by the crowd.
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Speaking from Rio de Janeiro two days after winning the medal in the over-100kg tournament, Sasson told Army Radio “it is something that has happened a few times already in the past”.
“We believe that the Olympic spirit should be about building bridges, never about erecting walls”, IOC spokesman Mark Adams told a news conference.
“Shaking the hand of your opponent is not an obligation written in the judo rules”.
“The Israeli athlete is not my friend who I must greet”, he said, adding, “I worked really hard to get into this Olympics, and in the end it turned into something political”.
The International Judo Federation, however, saw the encounter through a different lens, saying it was a sign of progress that the bout even took place.
El Shehaby, 32, had been reportedly pressured by fans on social media not to show up for the match with his Israeli opponent because it would shame Islam.
On Thursday, Moutaz Matar, a TV host of the Islamist-leaning network Al-Sharq, had urged El Shehaby to withdraw. Many blamed him for embarrassing the country, although some felt sympathy for El Shehaby, saying he was put under a lot of pressure. Even before the official opening ceremony of the Games, the Lebanese team obstructed their Israeli counterparts to board the shuttle bus which was supposed to deliver them to the Olympic Stadium din Rio.
El-Shehabi refused to shake hands after losing to the Israeli; this was jeered loudly by Israeli spectators. “Egypt will cry; Egypt will be sad and you will be seen as a traitor and a normalizer in the eyes of your people”.
El Shehaby did not comment after their match.
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Asked whether the two athletes will shake hands, Hatab said, “the delegation doesn’t allow mixing politics with sports”.
