FILE PHOTO: Judo - World Judo Championships - Men's Under 81 kg - Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan - August 28, 2019 - Iran's Saeid Mollaei reacts. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
BERLIN (Reuters) - An Iranian judoka is refusing to return home over fears for his safety after he ignored orders from his national federation to pull out of fights to avoid a potential final meeting with an Israeli, the International Judo Federation said on Monday.
The IJF said Saeid Mollaei was pressured by Iranian authorities to drop out of his quarter-final and semi-finals at the world judo championships in Tokyo last week to avoid fighting Israel's Sagi Muki in the final.
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