Iran banned from judo competitions over boycott of Israel

The International Judo Federation (IJF) on Tuesday rejected Iran’s appeal of its ban from all competition over its boycott of Israeli athletes, The Associated Press reports.

The ban, comes nine months before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, will be in effect “until the Iran Judo Federation gives strong guarantees and prove that they will respect the IJF Statutes and accept that their athletes fight against Israeli athletes,” the Federation said in a statement.