Kuwaiti fencer refuses to face Israeli, pulls out from championship

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
20 May 15:29

The reason for such a decision is based on the refusal to compete against an Israeli contestant.

Kuwaiti fencer Abdulaziz Alshatti. (Photo via Twitter)

Kuwaiti fencer Abdulaziz Alshatti took the honorable decision to withdraw his participation from the 2023 Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) Senior World Cup contests held in Turkey.

The reason for such a decision is based on the refusal to compete against an Israeli contestant. The decision was made as soon as he found out his upcoming competitor was an Israeli.

"I withdrew from the tournament because of the presence of a representative from the Zionist entity in the same group," Alshatti wrote in an Arabic-language post published on his Instagram page.

"My trust in God is great, and goodness is coming with His permission. His generosity is not delayed, but rather comes at the right time," he added.

A similar event happened in 2018 when Alshatti was faced with an Israeli contestant and walked off the World Fencing Championship which was held in Switzerland at the time.

Over the years, several Arab and Muslim athletes have willfully stepped back from competing in international tournaments upon learning they were facing an Israeli opponent.

For instance, in September 2022, Kuwaiti karate fighter Mohammad al-Otaibi pulled off the Karate 1-Premier League contests in Baku, Azerbaijani, for the same reasons.

In August 2022, Lebanese chess champion, Maggie Qassem Fawaz, decided to withdraw from the 4th Abu Dhabi International Open Festival after the classification pitted her against an Israeli player in her fourth round.

A poll conducted in 2019 by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy revealed that 85 percent of surveyed Kuwaitis rejected normalizing ties with "Israel."