Saeid Mollaei, 27, won a gold medal at the judo World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2018. Last month he was attempted to defend that medal, in the -81 kg category, at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo.
Unfortunately for Mollaei he was unable to clinch gold this time around, losing in the semi-finals to Matthias Casse of Belgium. But any stress over failing to medal at the tournament has been overshadowed by Mollaei’s fears that it now not safe for him to return home to Iran (per CNN Sports).
According to Mollaei his reason to fear going home has nothing to do with his loss to Casse, but is instead down to his refusal to withdraw from the tournament altogether.