(Photo from FJP)
Kung Fu player Mohamed Youssef and the Egyptian Kung-Fu Federation were both referred to interrogation by Minister of Sports Taher Abu Zeid on Tuesday, state-owned news agency MENA reported.
Youssef, who claimed the gold medal in the Sports Accord Combat Games competition in St. Petersburg Russia on Sunday, during the medal ceremony raised the four-finger Rabaa sign and wore a t-shirt displaying the same symbol, which symbolises support for the Rabaa-Al Adaweya sit-in in support of former President Mohamed Morsi.
Abu Zeid said what the player has done “will not pass easily” stating that the Kung-Fu Federation is also to be blamed.
The minister described the incident as “mixing politics with sports, and a diversion from national coherence”
Federation Vice President Mohsen Bahgat said on Monday that Youssef was referred to interrogation by the federation to “learn the reasons behind what he has done.”
Youssef was banned by the federation from participating in the Kung-Fu World Cup in Malaysia and sent back to Egypt, while the rest of the Kung-Fu team flew directly to Kuala Lumpur.
The incident is reminiscent of when prominent footballer Mohamed Abu Trika flashed an undershirt with the text “Sympathize with Gaza” written on it after he scored a goal against Sudan in the 2008 African Cup of Nations amid the January 2008 conflict between Gaza’s Hamas and the Israeli Defense Force. Abu Trika had received a warning from the CAF, the competition’s governing body, for showing off a “political message during a football game.”
