Asi Maman 16/02/2021 13:56
Oren Samadja (Hagai Michaeli)
Iranian judoka Said Moulay was warmly received this morning (Tuesday) by Oren Samadja’s Israel national team at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv. For the past year and a half, since he left his homeland, he has been training alone in various places around the world – but this time he has won a personal training opponent and training in a good atmosphere together with the Israeli judokas.
The one who helped him adapt was the coach of the Israeli national team, Oren Samadja, who could not ignore his arrival in Israel and the fact that he arrived only with his coach. In recent years, a personal connection has been established between the camps and the Israeli side, probably aware of the plight of the judoka who left his family behind.
“I witnessed what happened in the 2019 World Cup in Tokyo,” he said Samadja In an interview with ONE. “It was a hallucinatory situation. We’re in the same warm-up room, and I see how Guy Muki wins battle after battle and how Said Moulay wins battle after battle. At some point we all realize there is going to be a fight between them, and suddenly I see the tension that is on Moulay’s side, the phones and all the happening around. I remember seeing him broken, I remember journalists and photographers coming from all sorts of TV stations and this was the first time I got involved in anything to do with Said, when I went to get everyone out of the room. I approached, sat there and was told about the drama that took place behind the scenes with the demands he received not to perform in front of us. At that moment I was sad. It is unfortunate to know that this is happening, but I am sure that language in the country feels more secure and I know that our union gives it its best. “
How is your relationship today?
“We are in contact and talking to Said and his coach. The truth is that the speech we built was created before the competition here and slowly a certain security began to form between us and him, so much so that we are already talking on the phone freely. He sends me messages of Shabbat Shalom and wishes me a happy holiday. “
Wait, does Said know the holidays of the Jewish people?
“He knows our holidays, yes, and that’s fine. Many people send greetings to each other. “
And how do you see him coming to Israel to compete?
“The fact that he came here, it indicates a man who is going after his biggest dream. He knows what happened in the past to athletes who did not compete against Israelis, how they lost their way and their big dream. It’s just an athlete who goes with his truth, his dream and fights for the things he believes in, and it deserves a lot of appreciation. “
How is training between two world champions who are also rivals on the mat in the end?
“I assume he is always one of the strongest athletes there is and also among those who have the potential to fight against Sagi for an Olympic medal one day, and I need to be a trained coach, know the pros and cons, and learn him, because in the end he is also Sagi’s opponent Our world champion. Sometimes you have to do the separation, there is nothing to do. Each of them trains separately with a different training opponent. “
What does it mean that there is a Grand Slam competition in Tel Aviv?
“The very fact that they changed the setting from the Grand Prix to the Grand Slam upgrades the competition and raises the bar. A lot of athletes from the top world, when they hear that there is a Grand Slam competition it is for them a big competition in the Olympic round. I’m glad the union has made great efforts to make that happen and it deserves a lot of appreciation. The foreign coaches here in the market from the organizational ability of the competition and of our union. They rented planes, rented rooms in a hotel, and really managed to pick up an event despite the restrictions, after many did not believe that this competition would take place, but it happens. “
Did the team’s preparations go well?
“Yes. We did our first workout today and all of our senior athletes were in it, except for Tal Flicker who was a bit injured. There are a lot of young people who are the future of judo in the coming years, like the 17-year-old Yam Welchek who is competing in the Grand Slam for the first time, so I believe the next generation who gets such an opportunity will know how to take advantage of it and gain experience to continue. We do not expect them to reach the stages of battles for the medals of course, but we produce depth in the team and that is important. “Our goal is to have four strong athletes of all weights from the moment the Tokyo Olympics end.”
There is a lot of talk about this being a competition in the shadow of the corona in a country that has just come out locksmith. How do you keep the rules and what do you go through on the way to the competition?
“First of all, all our Olympic athletes in judo were vaccinated with two shots. On the way to the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv we passed two corona tests, upon entering the hotel we passed another test and only then were we allowed to leave the room. All this time, you get food in the room when you put it near the door. After everyone came out negative even in the third test, we were able to go out and practice at the hotel in a special hall.
He added: “We have two training sessions a day, when a day before the competition each athlete will undergo another test and only then will he compete. It is not simple and unpleasant, but this is the period and there is a very strict outline of the World Union. This is how it was in Hungary, in the European Championships, in the Masters and now here in our country. This is an outline that is good in relation to the situation in the world. We are preparing and want to do the best in spite of everything, in the hope that we will win medals here as well. “
