Egyptian judoka refuses to shake Israeli opponent’s hand
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egypt’s Islam El Shehaby, blue, declined to shake hands with Israel’s Or Sasson, white, after losing during the men’s over 100-kg judo competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egypt’s Islam El Shehaby, blue, declined to shake hands with Israel’s Or Sasson, white, after losing during the men’s over 100-kg judo competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today.
RIO DE JANEIRO » Egyptian judo fighter Islam El Shehaby was loudly booed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after his first-round loss to Israel’s fifth-ranked Or Sasson, when El Shehaby refused to shake Sasson’s hand, in a major breach of judo etiquette.
Sasson defeated El Shehaby with two throws for an automatic victory, with about a minute and a half remaining in the bout.
Afterwards, El Shehaby lay flat on his back for a moment before standing to take his place before Sasson, in front of the referee. When Sasson extended his hand, El Shehaby backed away, shaking his head.
The referee then called El Shehaby back to the mat and obliged him to bow; El Shehaby gave a quick nod of his head.
El Shehaby refused to comment afterward.
Judo players typically bow or shake hands at the beginning and end of a match, as a sign of respect in the Japanese martial art.
The International Judo Federation said that the fact that the fight even took place between those two athletes was already a major sign of progress.
“This is already a big improvement that Arabic countries accept to (fight) Israel,” spokesman Nicolas Messner said in an email. He said there was no obligation to shake hands, but to bow is mandatory.
Messner said that even though El Shehaby ultimately bowed, “his attitude will be reviewed after the games to see if any further action should be taken.”
El Shahaby had come under pressure from Islamist-leaning and nationalist voices in Egypt to withdraw entirely from the fight.
On Thursday, Mataz Matar, a TV host in Al-Sharq Islamist-leaning network urged el-Shehaby to withdraw.
“My son watch out, don’t be fooled, or fool yourself thinking you will play with the Israeli athlete to defeat him and make Egypt happy,” he said, adding “Egypt will cry; Egypt will be sad and you will be seen as a traitor and a normalizer in the eyes of your people.”
Hisham Hatab, head of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, was quoted by the daily al-Masry al-Youm as saying there will be no withdrawals, adding “Islam will play the match without troubles.”
Asked whether the two athletes will shake hands, Hatab said, “the delegation doesn’t allow mixing politics with sports. In Judo, the players can either shake hands or bow in respect to each other. It’s up to the player.” Egypt’s minister for youth and sports was quoted as saying, “we have to accept competition with everyone regardless of anything.”
Egypt is the first country in the Arab world to sign a peace treaty and normalize relations with Israel, after decades of war.
27 responses to “Egyptian judoka refuses to shake Israeli opponent’s hand”
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Still sore because Egypt got soundly defeated when they invaded Israel in 1967…hatred of Jews lasts a long, long time !
Especially if one listens to a misguided Imam?
Exactly like Trump supporters..
an inane and irrelevant reference
HIE can’t help himself. He must have nightmares when he tries to sleep.
“defeated”?…OR JUST GAVE UP, AND RAN?
Over 20,000 Egyptian soldiers were trapped despite their overwhelming advantage over Israel. When you look at what each side had it was like David versus Goliath.
Sore loser. Pack your bags and go home.
This is ridiculous. The whole point of the Olympics is to help bring countries closer together through sports. Displaying poor sportsmanship is a huge slap in the face to Olympics. He should pack his bags and go home!
Boy some people just cannot let it go.
Ban Egypt from the Olympics …
Competitors in judo are called “judoka.” Not “judo players” and certainly not “judo fighters.” And the bow before and after the match is mandatory, shaking hands is not. Still, politics has no place on the mat.
Politics has always been part of these games. This illustrate that peace will not come about by more war. The Israelis will never exterminate Palestinians.
Peace only come when both sides can put aside their differences and negotiate a settlement.
No action will be taken, or it will be called foul Anti-Muslim bashing moment.
The Bible states that the “second coming” will only happen when the “ancient lands of the Jews are reclaimed”. The Israel Foreign Office maps show these “lands” extend all the way to Cairo and Alexandria. Don’t hold your breath on getting the Temple Mount handed over to the Jews, either. The Messiah is going to have a long wait. Handshake?
“The Israel Foreign Office maps ….”
Interesting, do you have a link to a reference/image for these?
He should be stripped of his belt. Someone with that kind of attitude cannot be called a judoka.
Japan’s biggest mistake was to teach judo and karate to non-native Japanese.
Why was that a mistake? Please explain.
Then there would be no Judo competition in the olympics if that was the case.
Cool !!!
I would have thought maybe some other Arab country would do this, but not Egypt. Israel and Egypt have full diplomatic relations.
Judoka Islam El Shehaby of Egypt is between a rock and a hard place. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. If we give him the benefit of the doubt for a moment and assume that he is a true judoka, we know that etiquette is part of who he is. However, in this situation, the political climate in Egypt places him and his family in danger. Refusing to shake Or Sasson’s hand may have been an attempt to balance out his decision to compete against the Israeli, walking a fine line between love of sport and love of family. A bit of empathy from the rest of us may not be a bad thing.
Like the Hawaii finger flipper, this is probably a political statement.
As a judoka, hate the word fight. Should be compete. My take only.
A correct take it is.
This guy should be permanently banned from the Olympics.