Iranian-born judoka Saeid Mollaei, an Olympic silver medalist from the 2020 Games, is concerned for the safety of Iran's women's soccer team after they were branded "wartime traitors" by an Iranian conservative commentator after declining to sing the country's national anthem at the Women's Asian Cup in Australia. MollAEi, who defected to Germany in 2019, called the Iranian soccer players "heroes" and said they are fighting for freedom. The Iranian Football Association said the team will meet with the rest of the team in Kuala Lumpur before returning to Iran in the coming days.