Asian Games round-up: Organiser questions Sarita Devi’s sporting spirit

Filipino boxer Charly Suarez qualifies for the lightweight title fight.

Sarita Devi protested against what her camp called ‘biased’ judging in the semi-finals. Kim Kyung-hoon / Reuters

INCHEON, South Korea // Indian boxer Sarita Devi’s refusal to accept her bronze medal on the podium went against the values of sportsmanship, Asian Games organisers said on Thursday.

They said they were reviewing the incident and could take action against her.

Sarita refused to wear the medal when it was presented on Wednesday, taking it only in her hand before trying to drape it over the South Korean fighter who had beaten her the previous day.

When the presentation was over, she left the medal behind, despite being told by the organisers to take it with her.

“She needs to respect the official ruling and show sportsmanship. Her actions were not sportsman-like,” Son Cheon-taik, deputy secretary general of Incheon’s organising committee said on Thursday.

“The Olympic Council of Asia is working on the review of the medal, whether or not to give it to her or confiscate it. So they are deciding what to do with it.”

Devi had to settle for the bronze after losing her lightweight semi-final on Tuesday to local boxer Park Ji-na, who was declared a unanimous 3-0 winner.

But the result was disputed by India, who thought Devi should have been declared the winner.

Her husband, Thoiba Singh, launched an expletive-laden tirade at the judges, according to Indian newspapers, before Devi lodged a protest against the outcome, which was rejected, prompting more complaints from India.

“Although she was upset, she didn’t lodge an official complaint, so there is no official investigation,” Son said.

“However, if an athlete feels cheated, there needs to be an official letter to the judging committee, which I have begun working on. I have not yet sent this letter, so nothing is official.”

After the incident, an International Boxing Association (AIBA) supervisor said the Indian team had not followed the proper rules regarding protests.

The AIBA is to issue a decision regarding disciplinary procedures immediately after the Games, which end on Saturday.

“At every Games you see claims being made against judging decisions,” Son said.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t just claim to be fair but that we did our best to maintain the integrity of the Games.

“We introduced an academic programme, and we provided education and training to judges at the Games.

“We wanted to create an environment where those that are defeated accepted the result, and those that won could be graceful in victory.

“We tried to ensure there is no home advantage, and we wanted to underline that this is an event for all Asians.”

The decision sparked a backlash in India where several newspapers featured a crying Devi on the front page, claiming she had been “robbed in the ring” by “biased” judges.

“The fact that all the three judges gave it to the Korean clearly shows the result of the bout was decided before the start,” India’s Cuban coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez told the Times of India newspaper.

“You can understand if such a thing happens in a close bout but this was totally one-sided and this is a poor advertisement for boxing.”

Filipino Suarez qualifies for the lightweight title fight

Philippines lightweight Charly Suarez survived a brawl against all-action Jordanian Mustafa Alkasbeh at the Asian Games on Thursday to earn a shot at gold and at least 1 million Philippine pesos (Dh81,910).

He will face Mongolia’s Otgondalai Dorjnyambuu in Friday’s final after edging a thriller by split decision.

“I don’t know how I got through that,” Suarez said after three furious rounds that left Alkasbeh in tears at the result. The Jordanian had shocked South Korea’s Olympic silver medallist Han Soon-Chul in the quarter-final.

The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines has said an Asian Games gold medal will carry a 3 million pesos reward for the boxer, with 1 million for a silver and 750,000 for a bronze.

“The opponent was like a machine,” Suarez’s coach Nolito Velasco said. “I told my boy to deliver one, two or three-punch combinations and step to the side.

“He [Alkasbeh] suffered in the last round with his endurance and Charly was good in that round. It gave us the split decision.”

The boxing has been marred by a series of controversial judging decisions, culminating in India’s Sarita Devi rejecting her bronze medal on Wednesday in extraordinary scenes.

But Velasco had no complaints on Thursday.

“I heard about that [the controversy surrounding Devi]. The most important thing is that I didn’t let it distract my boxers. The judging was fair today,” he said.

After a tumultuous week, India could have no complaints either as superheavyweight Satish Kumar was hopelessly outclassed by Olympic bronze medallist Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan.

Dychko picked off the ponderous Kumar at will and probably could have put his opponent away, but chose to save his energy for the final against Iran’s Jasem Delavari.

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