Iranian judokas have not only defected from the Islamic Republic, at least one of them is scheduled to compete in Israel.
Iran’s longtime ban on its athletes competing against Israelis has earned the Islamic Republic a ban from international judo competitions.
It has also spurred brave fighters like Saeid Mollaei to defect from Iran to compete in freedom against the best in the sport.
At lease one brave Iranian fighter is taking his protest one step further, signing up to compete in the Tel Aviv Judo Grand Prix in January 2020!