Olympics-Judo-Algerian Dris removed from draw ahead of fight against Israel’s Butbul

PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) – Algerian Redouane Messaoud Dris’ name was crossed out of the draw for the men’s -73kg judo event at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, a day before he was scheduled to face Israel’s Tohar Butbul.

“Tohar’s competitor has removed himself from the competition,” the Israeli Olympic Committee said in a statement.

“The Israeli delegation will continue to compete with the Olympic values in mind, we believe this kind of behaviour has no place in the world of sport.”

The Algerian judo federation was not immediately available to comment. (Reporting by Julien Pretot, John Irish and Zhifan Liu; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ken Ferris)

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