Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby was loudly booed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after his first-round loss to Israel’s Or Sasson, when El Shehaby refused to shake Sasson’s hand or bow after the match.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1E2NLwdt4
According to CBS Sports, many prominent Egyptians called for Shebaby to withdraw from the match in the first place.
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.”
This is pretty disgusting considering the main purpose of the Olympics is to rise above politics to compete in a civilized fashion.
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