A week before the opening of the Tel Aviv Grand Slam in judo, the refugee team today (Thursday) received the visas to take part in the prestigious competition and for the first time - an entire team will take part in a sports event in Israel.
In the last few days, the Ministry of Sports put pressure on all possible factors to allow their entry, together with the Israel Judo Association, when in the end the Population and Housing Authority realized the importance of the matter, entered them into the system and granted the visas.
The Chairman of the Judo Association, Moshe Ponti, said: "I thank the Ministry of Culture and Sports for making great efforts to get the visas for the refugee delegation that will compete in Israel for the first time and I thank the Minister for understanding the importance of the matter and working with all the relevant parties, I call on everyone to come and encourage the refugee delegation and the Israeli national team."
Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar: "I am happy that after many efforts by the ministry led by me with the professional teams and the Ministry of the Interior to bring the athletes to the important event of the Grand Slam in judo that will take place next week. The international convention for athletes all over the world in Israel and abroad must be preserved and politics should be left out for sports".
The team includes the Iranian Mohammad Rashnonzahad (up to 60 kg), who immigrated to the Netherlands in 2017, and the Afghani Nigara Shaheen (63 kg), who is in the program of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) World Refugee Team and previously took part in the Tokyo Games in the individual competition and the group.
The third athlete is 23-year-old Majid Kaban, who competes in the weight category up to 66 kg. Three years ago, Kaban decided to follow in the footsteps of Said Moulay and left Iran, and today he lives and trains in Scotland and hopes to make it to the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
The team is led by the Iranian coach of the women's team, Vahid Sarlak, who just played at the last World Championship in Tashkent, took a picture with the coach of the Israeli women's team, Shani Hershko, and shared a message of peace.
"The Iranians are friends of Israel and respect Israel," he said at the meeting.
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