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Social media sites in Saudi Arabia were filled with protests against an arbitration award at the Tokyo Olympics that deprived a Saudi player of the gold medal and awarded it to his Iranian competitor.
While Saudi karateka Tariq Hamdi was set to offer his country the first gold medal in its history, the referee awarded him a technical foul in the final when the confrontation was within his grasp.
Hamdi, 23, was heading for the gold, leading 4-1, when his Iranian opponent, Sajjad Kanjzadeh, kicked him and threw him to the ground, and the case necessitated the intervention of doctors.
After the referees consulted, they decided to fire Hamdi, and the gold went to the Iranian player and the silver to Hamdi.
The fight referee’s decision did not please the Saudis, who felt they deserved the gold.
Saudi Sports Minister, Chairman of the Saudi Olympic Committee, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal announced that Hamdi will be honored in the Kingdom with the gold medal “because he is the hero in our eyes”.
Because he is the hero in all of us 🇸🇦🇸🇦
Our Olympic champion, Tariq Hamdi, will be honored with the gold medal (5 million riyals) for his excellence, creativity and honorable representation of the country in front of world stars.
in one # Tokyo2020 🦅👏🏼You deserve it, hero, and the future is in front of you, God willing 👏🏼👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/jL6X2yy2RG
– Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal (@AbdulazizTF) August 7, 2021
For his part, Saudi sports journalist Issa Al-Jawkam considered the referee to be Hamdi’s opponent in the match, referring to the interview with the commentator who explained the situation of the refereeing and said that the exclusion decision was “unfair”.
The opponent was the judge.
As for the fight, it was settled by points before the deportation decision.
And the picture … speaks
We are not specialists .. But the commentator was knowledgeable and gave a full explanation of the arbitration case and said the decision was unfair.# Tokyo_2020 #Tariq_Hamidy pic.twitter.com/LuLOCItHvD– Essa Aljokm (@EssaAljokm) August 7, 2021
Saudi karate player Imad Al-Maliki said he had received many questions about the refereeing situation and considered that the Iranian player had deliberately not stood up, and said that “gold got us been stolen “.
Due to the many questions, the force of the blow is determined by the doctor and the leaders … and because the Iranian knows this is his only chance, he has decided not to stand up and leave it to the rulers, and that’s what happened ..
From my sight of the screen … I don’t see that he deserves the expulsion of Tariq and I see that the gold has been stolen from us
– #Emad_almalki (@ emad_almalki1) August 7, 2021
Many Saudi tweeters felt the match was politicized because the referee was Turkish.
The politicization of sport.
The commentator says, in my experience, that he wins #Tariq_Hamidy Because the Iranian was the one who attacked him and Tariq was on the defensive and with the worst of possibilities, Tariq would give a warning and win …
But the surprise came from the decision #Turki لصالح لاعب #Iranian against champion #Saudi #Tokyo_Olympics 2020 pic.twitter.com/54yzPc0tAw– Mubarak Al Ati (@mobarakalatty) August 7, 2021
For his part, Iranian player Kangzadeh expressed in statements to the press after the fight, his happiness with the gold, but added that he was “sad” because he won his medal in this way.
“I’m happy with the gold but sad because I won like that.”
He added: “If you ask me if I agree or not, of course I do not agree, because I like the gold medal. But I am satisfied with the level of competition that I have. given, and I accept their decision (the judges). I have no objection. I think I played well. That’s all I can. “
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