Algerian Judo Player Quits Olympics to Shun Israeli Opponent
Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine has withdrawn from the Tokyo Olympics before competing after the draw set him on course for a possible match-up against an Israeli opponent. Nourine was set to face Sudanese judoka Mohamed Abdalrasool on July 19 for his first bout, and would have taken on Israeli Tohar Butbul in the next round.
Speaking to an Algerian television station on July 22, Nourine said his political support for the Palestinian cause made it impossible for him to compete against an Israeli.
“We worked a lot to reach the Olympics… but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this,” he said, adding that his decision was “final”.
It is not the first time that Nourine has withdrawn from competition to avoid facing an Israeli opponent, after he pulled out of the 2019 world championships in Tokyo.
Iranian judokas have also come under fire for refusing to compete against their Israeli counterparts.
Indian Hockey Player Vandana Katariya Faced Caste Discrimination
Indian women’s hockey team came agonisingly close to winning its first-ever medal at the Olympics but it wasn’t to be as Great Britain just about got over the line in the bronze medal match in Tokyo on August 6. Trailing 0-2, India made a stunning comeback to lead 3-2 but Great Britain equalised in the third quarter and scored another in the final 15 minutes to win the match 4-3. Despite the heartbreak in the bronze match, it was a highly successful tournament for the women’s team.
But, as the Indian caste system would have it, the family of Vandana Katariya, a member of Indian women’s hockey team playing in Tokyo, faced caste discrimination. Soon after the team went down to Argentina, two men allegedly danced and burst firecrackers outside Vandana Katariya’s house in the Roshnabad area in a gesture of mockery on August 4. When some members of Vandana’s family came out hearing the noise outside their house, the two men also passed casteist remarks against the family, saying the team had lost because it had too many Dalit players in it, he said.
A heated argument also took place between members of the family and the two men involved in the incident, following which a complaint was lodged by Vandana’s brother Chandra Shekhar.
Katariya’s brother reportedly said, “They (the accused group of youth) said how can people of my caste play in the national team?” He added that his family is in a state of fear as the accused allegedly threatened to kill them.
The police on August 5 arrested two brothers, Vijay Pal (25) and Ankur Pal (21), in connection with the case. They also arrested a third accused in this case, Sumit Chauhan (23) on August 7.