A day of outrage in the ring. Dominant Sarita awarded defeat against host opponent; Devendro shares same fate. India’s $ 500 review petition rejected
The boxing competition at the 17th Asian Games has become a cruel joke. The word going around at the Seonhak Gymnasium, venue for the boxing competition, is that if you are playing against South Korea, come what may you are going to lose!
Two Indian boxers, laishram Sarita Devi and her cousin laishram Devendro Singh, were on Tuesday robbed of sure shot wins over host South Korea’s Jina Park and Jonghun Shin, respectively.
Both Sarita and Devendro dominated the visibly one-sided women’s lightweight (57-60kg) semi-final and men’s light fly (46-49kg) quarter-finals bouts but to everyone’s surprise, the judges unanimously declared the South Koreans winners.
The entire Indian boxing contingent was furious but instead of trying to find a way to lodge a protest, they kept crying over the new rules where the jury’s decision can’t be challenged. “According to the new rules, you can’t protest against the jury’s decision. We can only challenge the referee’s decisions,” Sagar Dhayal, women’s coach, said.
There was also no Indian Olympic Association (IOA) official present there to take immediate action. It was only after a lot of media hue and cry and Mongolia’s protest (their boxer was also denied a win) that India decided to file an official complaint and demand a review of Sarita’s semifinal bout.
However, the protest seemed to be only a formality to convince critics and media that an action was taken as, according to the rules, the protest can only be lodged within half-an-hour of the bout. As expected, the protest was rejected by the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) technical committee later in the day.
Earlier in the day, there was a lot of drama as Sarita’s husband Thoiba Chong Tham got enraged by the rigging and abused the organisers. “"You Koreans have stolen this medal from her. You are killing boxing. Play fairly,” Thoiba shouted as security officials tried to take him away. “You all saw the bout. This is cheating. It was clear. Sarita pummelled her Korean opponent," Thoiba said. Indeed, that was true. Commonwealth Games silver medalist Sarita fought so ferociously that Park resorted to holding to slow down the pace of the bout after being left with a bloodied nose. The 32-year-old boxer from Manipur unleashed a flurry of clean punches and heavy blows and Park was barely managing to stay in the fight. Sarita looked a clear winner to all present but her precision and her brilliant ring craft failed to find favour with the judges.
“Everybody saw what happened here. I have nothing more to say. You know everything. Favoritism in such events isn’t good. They have gifted the win to the Korean. I want to request the organisers to be fair to boxers who train all year round to win medals. It hurts a lot,” Sarita said before breaking down. “I left my one-year-old baby with my relatives to be here (wipes her tears). All the controversies land into my life. God has been punishing me I don’t know for what,” she added.
India’s long-time Cuban coach B I Fernandes was also shocked with the verdict and said the result was decided before the match. “Sarita was a clear-cut winner but money talked here and the judges deserve to be thrown out. It happened in Seoul during the 1988 Olympic Games, it's happening now again. Nothing seems to have changed. The new rules have made no difference,” he fumed.
Fellow boxer M C Mary Kom, who advanced to the Final, also expressed her disappointment. “It was shocking. Sarita was the clear winner. This should not have happened,” she said. like her cousin, Devendro was also a winner against Shin but, to no one’s surprise, he lost the match. Again by a ‘unanimous’ 3-0 decision.
In a similar incident, 2012 Olympic silver medalist Tugstsogt Nyambayar of Mongolia suffered the same fate against Korea’s Sangmyeong Ham in the men's bantam (56kg) quarter-final match. He refused to leave the ring and stood there for 10 minutes before his coaches asked him come out. Miffed with the decision, the Mongolian coach also filed a complaint to the higher authorities here but it was also rejected.