Mauritanian chess player withdraws from Junior World Cup; 'won't play against Israel'

A 14-year old Mauritanian chess player pulled out of the Junior World Cup after he was drawn against an Israeli player. Abdel Rahim Al-Talib Muhammad, who is ranked 47th out of 215 players, insisted that he did not want to compete against an opponent who represents a country 'that in reality does not exist.' Israel has often been accused of using its international sports presence as a means to violate human rights.

Mauritanian chess player pulls out of Junior World Cup

After retiring from the Junior Chess World Cup, Abdel Rahim Al-Talib Muhammad explained his bold decision to the media. As per information retrieved from Middle East Monitor, Abdel said, "I decided to retire because I refuse to play with a representative of a fictional country that in reality does not exist." Abdel's stance was supported by the Mauritanian National League, who also honoured him upon his return.

"We salute our dear son Abdel Rahman Al-Talib Mohammed, this exceptional genius which honoured our country and our people by declaring a boycott of the grim Zionist face," said Ghulam Al-Hajj, the president of the Mauritanian National League. Israel is often accused of putting up a 'facade' when it comes to international sports, as they have been blamed for using such events to hide their human rights violations. Like Abdel, other Arab athletes have also publicly criticized Israel and other states for using sports to carry out their diplomatic initiatives.

Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine withdrew from Tokyo Olympics

Similar to Abdel Rahim Al-Talib Muhammed, Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine withdrew from the 73 kg men's event at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics. He did so after he realized he was drawn against an Israeli fighter Tohar Butbul in the second round. This was not the first time the judoka withdrew from a bout against the Israeli fighter, as he also did so at the 2019 World Championships in Japan.

After withdrawing from his fight against Butbul, Nourine defended his stance stating that defending his Arabian friends from Palestine against Israel was more important to him. "We worked a lot to reach the Olympics… but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this," said Nourine.