9–11 January 2026, at last week’s Karate1 Series A event in Tbilisi, Iranian athlete Alireza Lofitteh Pourzahriyeh refused to face Israeli competitor Ronen Gehtberg in the men’s under-67kg category. Gehtberg advanced directly to the second round and later competed against an Italian opponent.
This withdrawal continues a long-standing pattern in which Iranian athletes avoid competing against Israelis, following directives from Tehran. While similar incidents in other sports have drawn scrutiny from international federations and the International Olympic Committee, the World Karate Federation has largely remained silent, taking no public action or sanctions.
The phenomenon is not new. In 2017, Iranian karateka Majid Hasaninia refused to face an Israeli opponent at the 21st Paris Open Karate Premier League in France. Scheduled to compete in the men’s under-60kg division, he was eliminated after missing his first-round match. In a later interview with Iranian media, Hasaninia said that although he personally covered all costs to participate and wanted to test his readiness, his convictions and support for the defenseless Palestinian people took precedence.
The pattern continued in 2022. Iranian athletes Saleh Abazari, Mehdi Khodabakhshi, and Keyvan Baban withdrew from the Karate1 Premier League in Fujairah after being drawn against Israeli opponents. Through an arrangement between the WKF and the Iranian Karate Federation, the three held symbolic matches a day before the main event to maintain their ranking points despite their absence from the official competition.
In another case at the Karate1 Premier League in Baku, senior Iranian referee Javad Salimi, former head of Iran’s national referees committee, refused to officiate a match involving an Israeli athlete. After raising the issue with the WKF refereeing panel, another referee was assigned. A year later, Salimi lost his refereeing badge for influencing player draws and was banned from WKF events for five years.
This phenomenon is not limited to Iran. In 2022, Kuwaiti karateka Mohammed Mashal Al-Otaibi also withdrew from the Premier League in Baku after being drawn against an Israeli opponent.
Such incidents directly conflict with the fundamental principles of Olympism. Rule 6 of the Olympic Charter states that any form of discrimination based on race, religion, politics, gender, or other grounds is incompatible with participation in the Olympic Movement, and that athletes, coaches, and officials must compete on merit, not political or national considerations. Rule 50 further prohibits using the Olympic Games to promote political statements or propaganda.
Refusing to compete against an opponent from a specific country is therefore considered a political act and constitutes prohibited discrimination. These cases highlight the ongoing tension between political pressures and the ideals of fair play in sport, raising questions about the effectiveness of international federations in enforcing anti-discrimination rules.
