Judo boss offers Olympic lifeline to asylum-seeking Iranian Mollaei

TOKYO: Iranian judo star Saeid Mollaei, who claimed he was ordered to deliberately lose a world championship fight, could compete under a refugee flag at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, officials said Sunday.

International Judo Federation (IJF) president Marius Vizer has thrown his support behind former world champion Mollaei, who reportedly complained he had been instructed by Iranian authorities to throw a match in Tokyo last week to avoid facing Israeli Sagi Muki.

“It is our mission to protect our athletes -- that’s clear,” Vizer told AFP. “We will do our best that he will compete in the Olympic Games. Later we will see in which team -- there are different options, but one of them will be applied for the Olympics.”

Vizer was quoted by local media as saying that Mollaei had told him pressure was being exerted on his family in Iran, prompting him to lose to Belgium’s Matthias Casse in the semi-finals of the men’s 81-kilo class. The 27-year-old Tehran native subsequently fled to Berlin where he is currently seeking asylum, Vizer told Japan’s Asahi newspaper.

Germany’s Interior Ministry refused to comment on the case when contacted by AFP at the weekend.

The IJF will issue a statement on Monday, Vizer confirmed, but insisted: “First of all we will do everything to support the athlete so he can continue his career and participate in the Olympic Games.”

Vizer added that an emergency meeting would be convened this week to investigate whether Mollaei and his family had been the victim of political coercion or threats and subsequently to decide whether to punish the Iranian judo federation.

Among some of the more colourful online and social media reports, it was claimed Vizer had booked a car to whisk Mollaei from the world championship venue in Tokyo to the airport in a daring escape.

Iran’s Fars news agency accused Mollaei of pre-planning his defection, quoting Iran’s judo head coach Majed Zarian as saying: “Everything was set in advance -- someone in Iran must have helped him.” But Vizer insisted his support of Mollaei was an issue of “sporting values” and not politics. “I’m not in favour or against any country,” he said.