The Asian Games were plagued by controversy here Wednesday after
dubious judging decisions brought an angry boycott by Indonesia's
badminton players and claims of biased officiating in the boxing
ring.
There were extraordinary scenes in the men's team badminton gold
medal match, eventually won by host nation South Korea after a
two-hour interruption caused by a dramatic Indonesian protest.
The flashpoint occurred when Indonesia's star singles player Taufik
Hidayat reacted angrily when a call from a South Korean line judge
went against him at a crucial stage of his opening singles rubber
against Shon Seung-Mo.
Hidayat, who had also seen several other questionable decisions go
against him, stormed off court as the Indonesian management
remonstrated angrily with tournament officials.
There followed a two-hour break before play resumed, where the game
had halted, with Hidayat trailing 13-15, 9-12.
Even then there was still time for more controversy, two terrible
decisions against the Indonesian forcing him to down his racquet
again.
Though on that occasion a point was reversed in his favour, it was
all in vain and South Korea wrapped up a 3-1 victory in the fourth
rubber.
"We felt there were some deliberate bad calls and Hidayat didn't
want to play," Indonesian manager Christian Hadinata explained.
Hadinata had warned before the final that there could be a repeat
of the notorious 1986 Asian Games semi-final between Indonesia and
South Korea, which saw the Indonesians fall victim to poor
officiating.
The badminton furore came as several boxing coaches complained
bitterly about the outcome of bouts involving South Korean
fighters.
Although judges are neutral in the Asian Games boxing tournament,
coaches from Thailand and Jordan complained that decisions had
favoured South Korean fighters.
Jordanian heavyweight Yousef Hasan slumped onto the canvas and
cried after he was ruled to have lost his quarter-final against the
hosts' Lee Hyun-Song by three points.
The 23-year-old from Amman was still sobbing in the locker room
later as the quarter-finals ended.
The Thais had earlier howled foul after a referee stopped a
lightweight quarter-final bout midway through the second round to
send Baik Jong-Sub into the semi-finals and former Asian youth
champion Sayota Pichai to the scrapheap.
The 22-year-old Thai smiled quizzically as he headed into his
corner, trailing his South Korean opponent by 15 points.
"It's disgusting, I'm very upset about it," the Thais' Cuban
trainer Ismael Salas told AFP, although he ruled out a protest,
saying^The Jordanian trainer Omar al-Majali was also livid after
seeing Hasan denied victory.
"My boy wants to know why he lost. He was so far ahead on points.
You ask anybody in boxing," he told reporters.
"I
know the refereeing in Korea is not very good, but because he was
so far ahead on points I was sure my boxer had won."
The controversies in the boxing and badminton arenas overshadowed
another day of glory for athletes from the Gulf in track and
field.
Triple jumper Salem al-Ahmadi won Saudi Arabia's fourth gold and in
the 400m Hamdan al-Bishi took silver in a desperate finish in which
he was caught on the line by Fawzi al-Shammari of Kuwait.
The third day of track and field produced seven finals, with China
winning three, and the others shared between four Arab countries --
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
(China
Daily October 10, 2002)