May 14, 2021
Iran has been suspended for four years by judo’s world governing body as punishment for refusing to let its athletes face Israeli opponents.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) imposed a four-year ban April 29 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that its earlier indefinite suspension was not allowed.
The CAS judges had, however, been tough on Iranian officials from the national Olympic and judo bodies and the government’s Sports Ministry, saying the case “clearly reveals an institutionalized scheme” to prevent athletes facing Israelis in violation of global sports rules, a violation that warranted some punishment.
The case began when former world champion Saeid Mollaei left the Iranian team in 2019, saying he had been ordered to lose world championship matches to avoid facing Israelis.
The new four-year ban was backdated to start in 2019 and run until September 2023. It can be lifted earlier if the Iranian Judo Federation accepts to compete with Israel. It wasn’t immediately clear if the international federation could renew the four-year ban in 2023 if Iran takes no action by then.
The Iranian government’s ban applies to all international competitions where Iranians would directly face individual Israelis, including chess. It does not apply, however, to events where Iranians compete broadly against other competitors but not directly against Israel individuals, such as skiing and the international science and math Olympiads.
The ban means it is quite likely that dealing with Iran will go on the agendas of other sports federations. From Iran’s standpoint, the most important is wrestling, where the international federation has tried to avoid facing the issue because of Iran’s huge standing in that sport.
Israel has used the ban to skewer the Islamic Republic as a bigoted regime. But Israeli sports groups have not fought hard to have Iran banned since Israeli athletes have benefited from the Iranian rule; any time an Iranian drops out of a competition against an Israeli, the Israeli wins by default and advances to the next higher round.
The ban does not affect Iranian judokas going to the Tokyo Olympics because that team is sent by Iran’s national Olympic body and not the national judo federation. The new rule means Iranian judokas cannot compete at International Judo Federation events, including world championships, and officials cannot take part in the world governing body’s work.
Iranian officials can again challenge the verdict at CAS.
