Algerian Judoka Messaoud Redouane Dris was left out of the men’s under 73 kg Judo event competition on Sunday. This was after he missed weight at the weigh-in on Saturday. Despite the specified weight limit, Dris weighed in at 73.4 kg, thus getting disqualified from the event. His opponent, Tohar Butbul from Israel, won the match by walkover. The Algerian Olympic committee refused to comment on the situation.

Initially, it was reported that Dris had refused to face Butbul and had withdrawn. But a latest X post brings the truth forward.

The Algerian Olympics committee refused to comment on the situation. Many competitors in the ongoing games have refused to participate in bouts against Israeli athletes due to their ongoing conflict with Palestine. The Israeli committee believed that Dris’s disqualification was due to the same reason. They said that they would continue to compete in the Olympics and that this kind of behavior has no place in sports.

Algeria’s history of boycotting Israel’s athletes

This is not the first time an Algerian athlete has opted out of competing against an Israeli. In 2021, Fetih Nourine from Algeria opted out of the Tokyo Olympics. This was also after he was drawn against Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool for his first match.However, had he won this fight the draw would have made him face against the same Tohar Butbul from Israel. He threw the chance of winning the medal for his country as he refused to compete with the judoka as he believed that the ongoing conflict against Palestine is much bigger than any Judo competition. While he acknowledged the hardwork he put in for coming into the Olympics, nothing would shake his stand. He said, “We worked a lot to reach the Olympics… but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this.”

However, the action did not go down well with the international judo federation. They banned both Nourine and his coach Amar Benikhlef until the 23rd of July 2031. They believed that Nourine had used his platform for religious and political propaganda which was strictly prohibited. The athlete had also withdrawn in the same way during the 2019 Tokyo Championships. There is very less chance of Nourine coming back into competition. After the completion of his suspension, he would be 41. However, there is a likelihood of similar cases rising until the end of the conflict between the two States.