Second athlete sent home from Tokyo Olympics for refusing to face Israel’s Butbul

Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool has been kicked out of the ongoing Olympics Games in Tokyo – the capital city of Japan.

Abdalrasool happens to be the second judoka to be dropped out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics before facing Israel’s Tohar Butbul.

Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool weighed in for the 73-kilogram division bout on Monday but then failed to show up to face Butbul in their round 32 match.

Abdalrasool is the world’s 469th-ranked judoka in his weight class, while the accomplished Butbul is seventh.

The International Judo Foundation didn’t immediately announce a reason why Abdalrasool didn’t compete as Sudanese Olympic officials also didn’t comment on her absence.

No tangible reasons were given by the Sudanese judoka as to why he failed to contest with Butbul but reports suggest that it all has to do with the Arab nations with Israel over the Palestinian cause. 

Algerian Fethi Nourine who was the first judoka to be sent home from the Tokyo Games and was subsequently suspended by the IJF on Saturday after he withdrew to avoid a potential matchup with Israel’s Butbul said: “We worked a lot to reach the Olympics, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this.” 

Nourine‘s coach Amar Benikhlef added insult to injury which also made it obviously clear that the Arab nations are indeed fighting the same cause. 

“We were not lucky with the draw. We got an Israeli opponent and that’s why we had to retire. We made the right decision.” Benikhlef told Algerian media:

Nourine was supposed to face Abdalrasool for the right to meet Butbul.

The International Judo Federation subsequently announced that both Nourine and his coach have been suspended pending an investigation.