Algerian judoka Messaoud Redouane Dris was disqualified on Sunday for exceeding the weight limit the day before his Olympic 73 kg bout against Israeli Tohar Butbul, organizers said.
The 22-year-old weighed in at 73.4 kg in Paris, resulting in him being removed from the draw by the international judo federation.
Organizers said in a statement that Dris had “failed the weigh-in” and therefore his opponent would “win the scheduled contest by walkover”.
In the past several other judokas have pulled out or refused to compete against Israeli opponents.
The Algerian national Olympic committee declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
“Tohar’s competitor has removed himself from the competition,” the Israeli Olympic Committee said in a statement.
Dris’s compatriot Fethi Nourine was sent home from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago for refusing to fight Butbul.
“We worked a lot to reach the Olympics… but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this,” Nourine said at the time.
At least 39,258 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched a military campaign in retaliation for an attack on October 7 last year by Hamas militants, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
