Last Update: 07/09/2004 19:19

Iranian judoka who refused to fight Israeli gets $125,000  
By Reuters

TEHRAN - Iran has given judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili a $125,000 reward, saying he sacrificed a gold medal at the Athens Olympics by refusing to fight Israel's Udi Vaks, a sports official in Tehran said Tuesday.

Iranian state television showed Miresmaeili at an award ceremony receiving the same sum as Iranian Hossein Rezazadeh, who took the super-heavyweight weight lifting gold at the second Olympics in succession.

"He would definitely have won a gold medal if he had taken part," said the sports official, who declined to be named.

"By refusing to fight, Miresmaeili followed the policies of the country," the official added.

The International Judo Federation had considered a sanction against Miresmaeili during the Games, but concluded that he had been overweight for the fight and could not have taken part. The International Olympic Committee also decided not to take any action against Miresmaeili.

Miresmaeili had been drawn against Israel's Vaks in the first round of the men's under 66 kilogram category in Athens. After officials said initially he would not fight against an Israeli, Miresmaeili was eventually scratched for not making the weight class.


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