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The Iranian-born judoka Saeid Mollaei is now fighting for Mongolia
Photo: Charly Triballeau AFP
The international sports court Cas has lifted the ban on the Iranian Judo Association.
The Cas announced on Monday evening.
The World Judo Federation IJF had excluded Iran from all international competitions and other IJF activities in October 2019.
The reason for this was the instruction by Iranian officials to the judoka Saeid Mollaei not to play against the Belgian Matthias Casse in the semifinals of the World Cup in Tokyo in August 2019 in order to avoid a possible final against the Israeli Sagi Muki.
The Iranian federation had violated the Olympic charter and the ethics code of the world federation, the IJF justified the ban at the time.
The Iranian federation then appealed against this decision to the Sports Court in Lausanne - and was now right.
The world association had exceeded its powers with the type of its sanction, said the Cas.
The case had been returned to an IJF disciplinary committee.
Mollaei had opposed the order at the 2019 World Cup and lost the semi-finals against the Belgian Casse, but then did not dare to return to his home country.
He fled to Germany and has been fighting for Mongolia since then, for which he also wants to take part in the Olympic Games this summer - also in Tokyo.
For several decades, Iranian athletes have not competed against Israeli opponents because Iran does not recognize Israel as a state.
In Judo, too, there have been repeated sudden injuries or other incidents in the past so that Iranians could avoid a duel with an Israeli.
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cev / dpa