Tokyo Olympics: Algerian Judoka, Fethi Nourine withdraws from the Olympics to avoid facing an Israeli opponent

A Judo practitioner from Algeria, Fethi Nourine has concluded withdrawal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before his event commencements to prevent his possible draw against an Israeli opponent.

An Algerian Judoka namely Fethi Nourine has withdrawn from the Tokyo Games before the beginning of his tournament after the draw paired the player on a stint for an apparent Israeli opponent.

The 30-year-old told the Algerian TV that the justification for his withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics was his Political Support. The Judoka from Algeria supports for the Palestinian cause and that’s what compelled him to not take part in the mega event and can prevent himself from contending against Tohar Butbul.

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“We worked a lot to reach the Olympics and the news came as a shock, a thunder,” Nourine informed the Algerian TV late on Thursday.

He also said that the decision he made was “final,” and he would not “get his hands dirty”.

Nourine was scheduled to confront Mohammed Abdalrasool of Sudan on Monday as his first opening match in the men’s 73kg class and if he gained a victory, that would have set him against Butbul, the one who has a first-round bye ahead in the successive round.

This is not the first time that the Algerian has vacated from the tournament so that he could avoid confronting an Israeli as his competitor. He also had skipped the world championship of Tokyo in the year 2019 for the exact intention due to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

” We were unlucky with the draw. We got an Israeli opponent and that’s why we had to go retire. We made the right decision,” said his coach Amar Ben Yaklif.