The Lebanese Judo team didnt want to practice near the Israelis, so the IOC placed a mechitza between them

Egyptian forfeits Taekwondo match with Israeli

Al Ahram reports that Egyptian Rowan Ali refused to compete against Israeli Sivan Fenster in the quarterfinals of the women's 47 kg category of the 17th Zagreb Croatia Open Taekwondo competition.

When Ali learned that her next opponent was an Israeli she withdrew from the competition.

Fenster won a bronze medal as a result.

Altogether the Israeli team won four bronze medals at Zagreb.

Usually one only sees Iranians refuse to compete with Israelis. The idea that a country ostensibly at peace with Israel would allow such behavior tells you more about Egyptian-Israeli relations than any political analysis can.

An Iranian champion did refuse to attend a medal ceremony where Israeli Liran Malachi received his bronze so as not to stand next to him on the podium.

Iranian expelled from chess tournament for refusing to play an Israeli

Iranian, Refusing to Play Israeli, Expelled From Chess Meet

PARIS — One of Iran’s top grandmasters was expelled from an international chess tournament on Tuesday after he refused to play a match against an Israeli opponent, the director of the tournament said.

The Iranian, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, was scheduled to play Ehud Shachar in the fourth round of the Corsica Masters, a pairing determined by computer. The director, Léo Battesti, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Maghami had asked him to change the pairing, but was told that doing so would violate tournament rules. Mr. Maghami then failed to appear at the scheduled time to play Mr. Shachar.

Mr. Battesti said Mr. Maghami should have told him beforehand that he would object to playing an Israeli. Given that five of the 186 players in the tournament were Israelis, the likelihood that he would face one during the tournament’s nine rounds was “99 percent,” Mr. Battesti said. “I told him, you cannot involve your rules in my tournament,” he said.

Mr. Shachar said something like this had never happened to him before, though it had to other Israeli players he knew. Usually, someone who balks at a particular opponent forfeits one game, he said, but “in this case, the organizer took a stand.”

Iranians have refused to compete against Israelis in other international sporting events this year, including the world wrestling championships in Istanbul in September and the world swimming championships in Shanghai in July.

As it happens, Mr. Maghami, a nine-time national champion, was involved in an indirect chess competition with Israel earlier this year. In February, he played 614 people simultaneously at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran to break the world record of 523, which had been set in October 2010 by Alik Gershon, an Israeli grandmaster. Mr. Gershon’s record eclipsed one of 500 set two months earlier by Morteza Mahjoob, another Iranian grandmaster.

When Mr. Maghami bested Mr. Gershon’s mark, he told Agence-France Presse that Mr. Gershon’s nationality was not a factor. “Iran is great and deserves the best,” he was quoted as saying. “Let’s not talk politics.”

Mr. Battesti said that Mr. Maghami was the first player he ever had to expel, but that they parted on friendly terms when Mr. Maghami left Corsica on Wednesday. Mr. Maghami even gave him a bottle of good Corsican wine, he said.

Iran gives up gold medal in Kurash to avoid facing Israeli

From Iran's PressTV:

Iran's national Kurash team has finished as the runner-up in the 8th World Senior Kurash Championships held in the city of Termez, Uzbekistan.

The Iranian nationals bagged one gold, two silver, and three bronze medals to secure its second place, IRNA reported on Sunday. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan stood on first and third places respectively.

While Hojjat Rahnama snatched gold for the Iranian team in the -90 kg category, Saeed Khosravi refused to face a contestant representing the Zionist regime in the final round of the +100 kg category and earned a valuable silver medal.

Two other Iranian contestants also opted against facing the Zionist representatives.

The four-day long games, held in eight weight categories, began on October 19, 2011.

Kurash is a form of upright jacket wrestling, native to Uzbeks, practiced since ancient times.

The Uzbekistan National News Agency fills in:

The 10th Hakim at-Termizi international tournament in kurash for the prize of the President of Uzbekistan and the 8th international kurash championship among adults completed in Termez, Surkhandarya region.

Athletes from over 40 countries participated in the events, which were devoted to the 20th anniversary of state independence of Uzbekistan.

Grigory Rudelson from Israel, Nojat Rahmajozan from iran and Shuhratjon Arslandov from Uzbekistan won the titles of the world champions among men.

I admit I had never heard of this sport before today, but at the risk of ruffling feathers of the Israeli leftists by acting Zionist....go Israel!

Egyptian sore loser refuses to shake hands with Israeli at judo match

ISRAEL MATZAV: Jerusalem Marathon route changed

Adidas has caved in to thethreat of an international boycott, the Jerusalem City Council has caved in to Adidas, and the Jerusalem Marathon will bererouted not to take in any areas of Jerusalem that were liberated in 1967, including the Jewish neighborhoods in those parts of the city.

The Jerusalem Municipality had decided to change the course of the Jerusalem Marathon. The new route will not include running paths in areas of Jerusalem that were added to the city after 1967. Last month, two Meretz members of the Jerusalem City Council asked Adidas, which I sponsoring the marathon, to pull out of its sponsorship, threatening to start an international campaign accusing the company of supporting “occupation.”

Municipality officials denied that it was pressure from Adidas that led to the change of the route. In a statement, a city spokesperson said that the municipality was hoping to keep politics out of the event.

Maybe they forgot to point that out to the 'loyal opposition.'

RABBI DOV FISCHER: The Israeli, German, and Iranian Weightlifters

This clip runs three and a half minutes: http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2010/11/the-israeli-and-iranian-weightlifters/

An Israeli weightlifter lifted some 660 pounds (300 kg) and won first prize in an international competition. Second and third prizes went to a German and an Iranian weightlifter. They ascend their respective podia. The German shakes hands with the Iranian. The Israeli shakes hands with the German. Then the Israeli extends his hand to the Iranian, who snubs him. (Even so, the Iranian government apparently has come down hard on the Iranian for standing near the Israeli during the flag-raising ceremony.) And then the flags are raised, as the Hatikvah is played. Watching the Israeli flag being raised, honored above the flag of Germany and the flag of Iran – davka Germany and Iran – is a deeply emotional sight, augmented by the Hatikvah playing in the background.

It really is very special – even more so during a week when President Obama stood in Indonesia, condemning Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, and praising Indonesia for its special role in the Moslem world as a model for religious tolerance and religious understanding. There are more than 240 million people living in Indonesia today. Amid those more-than-240 million people in that nation that models religious tolerance and understanding, there obviously are Jews, too. According to an authoritative count published by the World Jewish Congress, the total number of Jews living today in religiously tolerant and understanding Indonesia is . . . fewer than twenty.

Word is that they soon will be forming a “breakaway shul” in Indonesia – but first they need permission to build a first shul there.

ISRAEL MATZAV: Iranian weight lifter banned for life for appearing with Israeli

On Thursday, I showed you video of the award ceremony for the 105 kilo category at the World Weightlifting Championships in Poland. The Israeli competitor came in first, an Iranian came in second and a German came in third.

The Iranian refused to shake the Israeli's hand, although he did stand at the podium while the Israeli national anthem - HaTikva - was played. I remarked that based on past precedent I was surprised that the Iranian didn't just forfeit the match with the Israeli.

Apparently, the Iranian government was also surprised. It has banned the weightlifter and his coach from all sporting activities for life.
Jalal Yahya-Zadeh, head of Physical Education Committee for Youth Committee announced this news and and added: "The fact that an Iranian weightlifting veteran has competed against an Israeli during the worldwide competitions and has stood beside him during the distribution of medal is unjustifiable."

He added: "Unfortunately, those who supposedly had the primary responsibility in this regard did not see any problem in this matter, however did not see it fit to be distributed within the public, which itself is an obvious mistake on their end."
If the sporting community had any morals, it would pit Israeli competitors against Arabs and Muslims in every event until the Arabs and Muslims tired of forfeiting and either withdrew from competition altogether or decided to compete. But expecting that kind of courage of conviction from a community that insisted that 'the games must go on' at Munich nearly 40 years ago is probably asking too much.

Sergio Britva in World Masters Weightlifting Poland 2010 Medal Ceremony cat. 105, men's 35-39 (Watch how Iran refuses to congratulate the Israeli winner)