Saeid Mollaei


Saeid Mollaei is an Iranian-born Mongolian judoka Olympian and 2018 world champion. Iranian authorities ordered Mollaei to intentionally lose in the semi-final at the Tokyo 2019 World Championships, so as to avoid a potential match in the finals against Israeli 2019 world champion Sagi Muki. In reaction, saying he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships, in August 2019 he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany, and in December 2019 he became a citizen of Mongolia.

Judo career

Mollaei won bronze medals at the 2015 and 2016 Asian Championships, and a silver medal at the 2017 edition. He was a bronze medalist at the Budapest 2017 World Championships, and a 2018 Baku World Championships gold medalist.
He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 81 kg event, and was eliminated in the first bout by Khasan Khalmurzaev.
Iranian authorities, the Iranian Sports Minister and the presidents of the Iran Judo Federation and the Iran Olympic Committee, ordered Mollaei to intentionally lose in the semi-final at the Tokyo 2019 World Championships, so as to avoid a potential match in the finals against Israeli 2019 world champion Sagi Muki.
In reaction, saying he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships to avoid a potential bout against Muki, in August 2019 he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany.
Iran's actions led the International Judo Federation to indefinitely ban Iran from competition. The IJF disciplinary commission examining the case found that Iran’s actions "constitute a serious breach and gross violation of the Statutes of the IJF, its legitimate interests, its principles and objectives." The ban will last until "the Iran Judo Federation give strong guarantees and prove that they will respect the IJF Statutes and accept that their athletes fight against Israeli athletes."
On 1 November 2019 Germany agreed to grant Mollaei asylum. That month, he competed as part of the IJF refugee team at the Osaka Grand Slam. Muki congratulated Mollaei on Instagram for returning to judo and participating in Osaka in his first competition since the World Championships in Tokyo, and Mollaei, in turn, thanked Muki for his support and wrote: "Good luck to you all the time, my best friend." Mollaei also posted a photo of them standing together, and wrote: "This is true friendship and a win for sports and judo over politics."
On 16 November 2019, he was received the Crans Montana Forum gold medal from Ambassador Jean-Paul Carteron for the difficult decision he took in Japan. The mission of the Crans Montana Forum is "Towards a more Humane World". In accepting the award, Mollaei said: "We must try to make a better world. A peaceful world, more equal, more friendly, and more fair."
On 1 December 2019, Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga offered him citizenship, which he accepted.
Mollaei will reportedly arrive in Israel in January 2020 to compete at the Tel Aviv Grand Prix.