Georgia Paralympian arrested over alleged guard assault
FILE PHOTO: A security guard wearing a protective mask, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, walks past the symbol of the Paralympic Games under installation at the National Stadium, the main venue of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, August 10, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A Paralympic judoka from Georgia was arrested Monday on suspicion of seriously injuring a security guard at a Tokyo hotel while in quarantine, police and local media said.
The 34-year-old Georgian allegedly broke the guard’s rib by “pouncing on him and pushing him down” in an incident last Thursday, a police spokesman told AFP.
The spokesman declined to comment on further details, but local media identified the man as a judoka who was scheduled to compete at the Paralympics, which open on August 24.
The assault came after the guard warned the man and other Georgian athletes over noise they were making while drinking, Kyodo news agency and other local media reported.
The Georgian was quarantined at a hotel near Tokyo’s Haneda airport after a member of the country’s team tested positive, reports said.
Tokyo 2020 organizers and the International Paralympic Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The athlete is expected to be ejected from the Paralympics and return home, local media said citing an unnamed official from the organizing committee.
Around 4,400 athletes are expected to take part in the Paralympics, which was delayed by one year with the Olympics due to the pandemic.
