Israeli Olympic officials have disqualified Israel’s four-man bobsleigh team from finishing their event today, Times of Israel reported on Sunday.

The Olympic Committee of Israel told the publication that it has prevented the country’s four-man bobsleigh team from taking part in today’s competition after one athlete provided false information to officials to let teammate Ward Fawarseh compete in his place.

Per the report, Israel had raced on Saturday with Adam Edelman, Menachem Chen, Uri Zisman, and Omer Katz. Although the team was originally scheduled to compete this morning with Edelman, Chen, Fawarseh, and Katz, the disqualification has halted their participation.

Fawarseh would have become Israel’s first Druze Olympian had he competed, but he arrived at the Games as an alternate and was only permitted to race if another team member was unwell.

“The bobsleigh team asked to include Ward, the substitute, in the competition. According to the rules, this is only permitted if one of the athletes is injured or ill,” the Olympic Committee of Israel said, according to Times of Israel.

“In order to make this possible, one of the team members — encouraged by his teammates — declared that he was unwell. He even went for a medical examination and signed an affidavit so that the Olympic Committee could request approval for a substitution.”

After admitting that he had lied, the athlete told the head of the delegation that he “had acted improperly,” forcing the Olympic Committee to withdraw the request and disqualify the move, the OCI said.

The committee called the team’s actions “improper” and said they “go against fair and sportsmanlike conduct.”

After the first two runs on Saturday, Israel’s team was in 24th place out of 27, following crashes by three sleds during the second run.

Previous controversy

The team had made headlines earlier this week as well when a commentator on Swiss channel RTS said Adam Edelman’s supportive comments of Israel’s more-than-two-year bombardment of Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people and the destruction of most of the territory’s infrastructure, should have resulted in him being barred from the Olympics.

“Edelman, first appearance at an Olympic Games, who defines himself and I quote ‘as a Zionist to the core’,” remarked the commentator, Stefan Renna, as Edelman and teammate Chen began their two-man bobsleigh run on Monday.

The commentator went on to tell viewers that Edelman had posted on social media “in favour of the genocide in Gaza. I remind you that genocide is the term used by the United Nations commission of inquiry”.

Renna also commented that Edelman had “said the Israeli military intervention was, I quote, the most morally justified war in history”.

He suggested Edelman should have been barred from the Milan-Cortina Games on the same basis that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to allow Russian athletes to appear if they had made pro-war remarks regarding their country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Edelman was furious and hit back on his Instagram account.

“I am aware of the diatribe the commentator directed towards the Israeli bobsled team on the Swiss Olympic broadcast today,” he wrote.

“I can’t help but notice the contrast: Shul Runnings is a team of 6 proud Israelis who’ve made it to the Olympic stage,” he said in a reference to the Israeli team’s nickname, a play on the film “Cool Runnings” about the debut of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

“No coach with us. No big program. Just a dream, grit and unyielding pride in who we represent. Working together towards such an incredible goal and crushing it. Because that’s what Israelis do. I don’t think it’s possible to witness that and give credence to this commentary.”

The Israeli embassy in Switzerland reacted robustly to the commentary.

“We are deeply appalled by the blatant abuse of a live Olympic broadcast by a Swiss RTS journalist,” the embassy posted on their X.

They demanded that action be taken against the journalist.

“@RadioTeleSuisse must publicly address this misconduct, issue a clear apology, and take decisive action against the journalist responsible.”

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said it was not for them to comment.

“In terms of specific comments by a commentator, that is a matter you have to refer to the broadcaster,” he said at the IOC daily briefing at the Winter Olympics.

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Sri Lanka on Sunday won the toss and chose to bowl against England in their Super Eight match of the ongoing T20 World Cup in Pallekele.

England, the two-time champions, have gone in with an unchanged team for the fourth match in a row, ESPNcricinfo reports.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka made two changes to their XI, with Dushmantha Chameera returning in place of Pramod Madushan and Kamil Mishara rejoining the team in place of Kusal Perrera.

“We’ve been chasing well in the past few occasions and happy to chase again,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Shanaka as saying at the toss. “The boys are very confident playing here.”

Ahead of the match, captain Harry Brook said on Saturday that England can adapt to whatever the weather throws at them, as rain threatened to disrupt their opening Super Eights match.

“I think you just have to prepare as if it is a T20,” Brook told reporters. “I think you can sometimes go down a bit of a rabbit hole thinking that you’re going to play a five-over game and then it ends up being a T20 and you kind of play it slightly differently.

Teams:

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka

More to follow

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AHMEDABAD: Who “deals with the pressure better” will decide the India-South Africa Super Eights match, a repeat of the T20 World Cup final two years ago, said Quinton de Kock on Saturday.The two unbeaten teams are familiar foes and both came through their T20 World Cup groups with perfect four-out-of-four records ahead of the clash in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Aiden Markram’s South Africa toured India late last year, losing 3-1 in a T20 series.

“I think that’s what’s going to make for quite a good game tomorrow, because we’ve played against each other quite a bit over the last two months,” said South Africa opener De Kock.

“And to be honest, the teams haven’t really changed much.

“So, I think it’s more when you’re out there on the pressure side, who deals with the pressure better and wins the small moments in the game.”

While South Africa looked strong in all departments in the group phase, the batting of the defending champions India has been inconsistent.

Attacking opener Abhishek Sharma has recorded three consecutive ducks, but De Kock did not read too much into it.

“He [Abhishek] is the number one T20 batsman in the world at the moment, according to the rankings, so he must keep doing what he’s doing,” said de Kock of the 25-year-old.

“He’s obviously quite young, he’s bound to fail. So I’m sure at some point he’s going to play an important knock.”

South Africa are being billed as strong contenders to meet India in the final in Ahmedabad on March 8.

There were no favourites in the T20 format, said De Kock.

“I think the nature of World Cups, that it doesn’t allow favouritism. At any moment, someone can win in a game out of nowhere. It’s quite a fickle game, World Cups, especially T20 World Cups. Games can be changed in a matter of two, three overs by an individual.”

CAPTAIN BACKS STRUGGLING ABHISHEK

Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav on Saturday backed Abhishek to play his attacking game with enough firepower in the rest of the line-up as they face South Africa.

“People who are worried about Abhishek’s form, I worry for them,” a smiling Suryakumar said. “I think about those teams against whom he is going to fire as he has not been able to score till now. When he gets the runs then you know how it is.”

Suryakumar added: “It is a team sport, it happens. Team requires him to play with his identity, so if he fires it’s okay otherwise we are there to cover for him. Last year he covered for us, now we will do it for him.”

The left-handed Abhishek, the world’s number one ranked T20 batsman, has handed the team many explosive starts since his debut in July 2024.

Big totals were predicted at the start of the 20-team tournament with India pipped to cross 300 on home ground, but the reality has been different. Ireland’s 235 against Oman in the group stage has been the highest total so far, with India reaching their best of 209 in a big win over minnows Namibia.

“We are trying to explode from the start because everyone knows their T20 template, but we don’t want to become a team that’s always blasting away,” said Suryakumar. There could arise a situation where two-three wickets fall early and we have to be a smart team to bat well between 12-15 overs and we have enough firepower that if the base is strong then we can smash 60-70 runs in last five overs.”

India boast of a potent spin attack led by Varun Chakr­avarthy, who has claimed nine wickets in four matches.

South African spinners inclu­ding Keshav Maharaj have also made their presence felt and Suryakumar said there will be no favourites in the Sunday game.

“The [Indian] spinners have done well against almost all oppositions, [but] I can’t say we will have an edge,” said Suryakumar.“It’s a new game and we start from zero. But definitely some good plans. On the given day, plans and execution should be coming together, if that comes together we will definitely have an edge.”

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2026

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