TEHRAN — Iran's
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday reasserted the Islamic
republic's longstanding ban on competitive sport with Israel and promised
support for athletes disciplined by international bodies for respecting
it.
اضافة اعلان
Iran does not recognize
Israel and its athletes usually refrain from facing Israeli opponents, whether
by forfeiting the match or by simply not participating.
But while their
actions earn them praise from top officials back home, they have sometimes
resulted in disciplinary measures from international bodies.
"Any Iranian
athlete worthy of the name cannot shake hands with a representative of the
criminal regime in order to win a medal," Khamenei told a reception for
Iran's medalists from the
Tokyo 2020 Games.
"The
illegitimate, bloodthirsty ... Zionist regime tries to win legitimacy by taking
part in international sporting events attended by the world arrogance and our
athletes cannot just stand idly by," he added, in comments posted on his
official website.
In Tokyo, Iran won
seven Olympic medals, three of them gold, as well as 24 Paralympic medals.
Khamenei instructed
"the sports and foreign ministries, as well as the judiciary, to deploy
their legal resources to support athletes from this and other Muslim countries,
like the Algerian who was recently disciplined".
He was referring to
Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine, who withdrew from the Tokyo Games after the draw
set him on course for a possible match-up against an Israeli opponent,
prompting his suspension from international competition.
Two years ago, an
Iranian judoka, Saeid Mollaei defected after being ordered to deliberately lose
at a World Cup event to avoid fighting Israeli Sagi Muki in the final.
He competed in Tokyo
under the Mongolian flag, winning a silver medal for his adopted country.
The International
Judo Federation suspended Iran from the sport over the Mollaei case, although
the ban was cancelled earlier this year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Another famous case
was current Iranian judo federation president Arash Miresmaeili, a
two-time judo world champion who showed up overweight for his bout
against an Israeli at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and was disqualified.
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