Pugilist Sarita Devi robbed of Gold

New Delhi: Controversy sparked yet again at the Incheon Asia Games when Sarita Devi was the victim of wrong judgement and had to settle for Bronze.

Sarita Devi lost to Jina Park of Korea in the semis of women’s lightweight (57-60kg) category. The Indian dominated majority of that bout and should have had the decision in her favor. She is gutted and has still not left the arena. Sarita Devi’s husband was so livid and he even abused the judges.

Despite landing heavy blows on the local favourite, the judges chose to declare Park the winner on points, leaving Sarita visibly agitated and standing in the middle of the ring in utter disbelief. She eventually walked away sobbing.

“Don’t accept this decision. Feel robbed. Favouritism in such events isn’t good. Korean boxer gifted the win. Plead judges to be fair,” Sarita Devi told a leading daily there.

“All my hard work has come to nought. It has happened to me but kindly see that this kind of injustice is not meted out to anyone else in the competition. I request you,” she said tearfully with folded hands.

“If they wanted to award the bout to her, then why allow us to fight in the first place,” she added.

Sarita and Park exchanged heavy blows through the first two rounds but the Indian was clearly powerful in the remaining two with even local fans silenced by her onslaughts. The judges’ eventual decision though left the Indian boxer and the contingent shocked.

Mary Kom – who had previously won her semi-final bout – also supported Sarita. “Of course she (Park) won because she is Korean.”

The final decision in the bout – with two judges ruling against Sarita – was booed by fans. The Indian bench looked angry as Sarita was certainly the better puncher and scored repeatedly in the crucial third round with straight punches on Jina’s face.

India’s long-time Cuban coach B I Fernandez also called it a clear case of cheating, but said no purpose would be served by lodging a protest that will cost the Indian contingent $500 and will be forfeited if the appeal was lost.

Meanwhile, angry fans took to micro blogging site Twitter to place their views.

Former Indian hockey captain Viren Rasquinha was not pleased with the decision and said, “Shockingly atrocious judging in Sarita Devi’s fight against local Jina Park. best fight I have seen by Sarita@AIBA_Boxing absolute disgrace.. Sarita Devi pummelled the South Korean in all 4 rounds, yet the judges gave a shocking decision! @AIBA_Boxing has no accountability.”

Another fan tweeted, “SHOCKED to see SARITA DEVI not given Semi final bout…INDIA MUST MUST Appeal….unfairly given to Korean.”

“#AsianGames2014 There can’t be any appeal against judge’s decision. So Sarita will only get a bronze. Just accept the decision say coaches. AIBA rules state you can only appeal against the referee’s decision – not against the judges. #AsianGames2014 #SaritaDevi.”

On Saturday, a Philippine boxer Ian Clark Bautista lost her bout when she lost a controversial bout. Bautista lost against Korean Choe Sangdon in his round-of-16 flyweight match.

Even after Sarita’s loss, a Mongolian boxer loses to a South Korean despite appearing to be the better boxer of the two. Reports suggest Mongolia has withdrawn its entire boxing contingent from the competition.

Earlier, teenaged Bahrain steeplechaser Ruth Jebet was dramatically stripped of gold just before she mounted the podium on Saturday as the Asian Games athletics started in a storm of controversy.