Bravo, Sarita Devi !

Sarita Devi

Sarita Devi, an Indian boxer in 60 kg category, was a class higher than her opponent, a host-country boxer, in the semifinal of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, but nevertheless the judges  blindly did  a  favor to the South Korean boxer, probably in return for the "gifts" they received from the host. 

You think judges and the host are getting slandered? Well then, please explain how on earth can they decide all in favor of the one who literally beaten so bad? Ordinary people who have no idea of giving points or all that scoring mechanism can even see who was the better one. Not only the better one but , as I said, was a better class! The whole world saw it. There is an another  way to explain this "mysterious"  decision by those judges but this one also rules out any justification:  the judges  were so incompetent to make a right decision. There is no way one would hire such incapable judges who don't know how to give points or evaluate a fair and honest decision. The best ones should be sitting there to make the right judgement about the athletes performances, and I am sure they were  chosen based on their rank or status. And that fact leads the  way back to my first allegation about being bribed. Shame on those judges and shame on AIBA (International Boxing Association)!

Host country athlete gets the win even tough lost

One could  "understand" the behavior of those judges for trying to make a "little wealth" for themselves by accepting whatever the host had offered, but I cannot understand the reaction from AIBA which normally should stand for fairness in competitions but instead they blamed the Indian boxer for not accepting the unfair decision and the bronze medal at the ceremony. Can you believe this?  It's like defending the rapist while blaming the one who got raped! The spokesperson of AIBA says, they feel  offended by Sarita's action of refusing to  accept  the bronze medal.  Offended?  Oh my! Just cut the crap! Sarita is the one who should be offended, and now the AIBA threatens to ruin this poor woman's career by banning her to participate in international competitions. 

Protest in social media

A supervisor and technical delegate named David Francis has submitted a report to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) concerning the case. You  know what he wrote in his report?  You wouldn't believe it! He wrote, "The whole incident looked like  a well planned scenario by her and her team, and it is regretful to watch a boxer refuse the medal regardless of what happened in the competition." 

Regardless what happened in the competition ? Seriously? It's like saying, "Just shut up and accept whatever you get!"  Additionally he wrote , "In this regard, as the technical delegate, I had to request OCA to review this incident , so any boxer or athlete in other sports  will not follow in her steps  by respecting the spirit  of fair-play and sportsmanship of the Olympic movement." 

The people around the world are outraged

Was he joking? Who is  the one trying to respect the sportsmanship  and demands a fair-play? Sarita Devi, not you Mr.Francis! She did it by her action, but you, Mr.Francis, did the opposite by blaming her action and defending your irresponsible and shameless judges!  Sportsmanship does not mean to stay "dumb and quiet" after being unfairly cheated and accept the outcome! If Sarita, or any other athlete who got cheated,  should shut the  mouth and accept  this nonsense  without a "fight", then  why bother to talk about a fair-play anyway? AIBA should stop talking about fair-play and pretending to promote it, really. At the end, the powerful party (AIBA or OCA) got away with a win, forcing the poor Sarita to issue an apology for her action of refusing to accept her medal. She  was "generously" pardoned with a "strong warning" for her "misbehavior."  With this decision, OSA proved that it will defend their (judges') decision, no matter whether it's wrong or right, and  gave a warning to all athletes not to mess with the governing body. 

A fair-play? Fuck you!

Well, forget about the fair-play and all that bullshit. As the OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al -Fahad Al -Sabah mentioned, any athlete should respect the referee's decision, right or wrong, and that says everything.  

They just ruined all the yearlong hard-work and   effort of this Indian boxer, a potential gold winner, by a "finger-snapping", just like that. And all that was to save their reputation and image. I thought like many others that sport should serve the friendship and peace between the people from around the world and bring them closer to understand each other, but it has changed a lot "thanks to"  those people in charge of the organisations  like AIBA or OCA.  Because of the lack to maintain  the fair-play in competitions, the sport has become a "war without arms" between nations and a root of hatred towards each other. All countries and athletes who ever experienced such unfairness, should protest and change the rules and fire the ones who ignore this kind of shameless practice, otherwise it will not stop!

Social media protest

Rich and big  countries could influence the judges or referees to decide favorably for their athletes, and this injustice causes outrage and even hatred.  The idea and goal of the sport is being more and more manipulated  by those in charge, but they don't care, and keep "promoting" fair-play and sportsmanship. OCA president said that they received 5 letters from different National Olympic Committees complaining about the boxing at this Asian Games. Here he talks about the boxing only, and but there are more about wrestling competitions too. What's the use of organizing such events if these were to make people's relations worse? I am sure that Sarita's family hate the host for being so cruel to rob her the silver (and maybe the gold medal). Believe me, it's not an exaggeration. I would do the same if I was the family member of the "victim." Why would you make people "enemies" I wanted to ask AIBA and OCA. Just to keep your seats and your earnings?  Don't you feel a shame? Even a little bit? 

Incheon = Incheat

Mongolian athletes were also not saved from this kind of trouble, with at least one top athlete in boxing (Tugstsogt) was eliminated because of the unfair decision by the judges when he was the better one in the ring. Mongolian team appealed the decision but the decision remained unchanged. Besides, there were some awful incidents happened to our athletes and   our country's image was humiliated.

   

Warning (Korean Embassy website)

The Korean embassy in Mongolia has  recently issued a warning to Korean citizens who are in Mongolia to be careful and advised them not to go out at night or get in argument with Mongolians, and  refrain from going to restaurants or bars at night, and take precautions when accompanied by Mongolian woman and wear sunglasses. The reason? Very simple. There are some reasons why they are  concerned about the safety of own citizens in Mongolia. It is all related to the fact how they "treated" Mongolian teams and Mongolia as a whole during the Asian Games 2014 in Incheon, South Korea.  What did they do "wrong"?

1. In the website of the Asian Games  the name of  Mongolia was written as Mongolia-China which perceived by Mongolians as an insult with intention. It's hard to believe that Koreans have such an ignorant people maintaining this website , without any knowledge or proper information about the countries competing in this Asian Games in South Korea. (They have it corrected later after complaining)

2. Mongolian flag was hoisted upside down. Again, careless action or a provocation? Mind to mention that no other countries' flag was raised upside down!

Mongolian flag seen upside  down (red circle)

3. In the meal  given to Mongolian  athletes were found a used  pad (or liner) with blood. Yes, I am talking about those liners women use during  their monthly period! An accident? I don't think so. How would a used liner end up in the meal they served to our athletes? Why it was not in the meal served to athletes from other countries?

A clean pad or liner

Mongolian Facebook users share a photo-shopped picture of the Korean flag in protest of feeding Mongolian athletes with women's pads. Well, who would like to be fed like this? I don't buy the version that  Korean female cooks  threw  their used pads into the food meant to be given to Mongolian athletes by mistake. 

So, I feel insulted and the Koreans should blame or be angry at their own people who were in charge of this stupidity or initiated this idea of  humiliating  Mongolians. Here is the response to this offense - a picture showing Korean flag with used women-pads, all bloody.

One can say that Koreans running this Asian Games have disappointed also in securing a fair-play in some disciplines like boxing and wrestling (Check this out how they robbed Iranian wrestler the win) . Mongolian and Indian boxers were "robbed" of their wins by the judges who might be bribed by Korean officials. What else can it be (or how can you explain) that an athlete who dominated gets the lowest score while the host country-athlete (Korean athlete) who was hammered wins? ( Read more about this here .)

Doing a favor for  the host country   should be not that cheap because those judges put their reputation or position at risk by doing so, but the International Boxing Federation and the Organizing Committee  of this Asian Games don't care. People comment on this:  "If the bribe is right, you win the fight." Seems like it. Fair nations should protest this kind of "robbery" with one voice, otherwise your athlete might be the next victim. Besides, why compete if there is no fair play? Why bother to gather together and talk about friendship between nations and athletes? 

According to the head official of the Mongolian athletes, the Organizing Committee of the Asian Games in Inchoen, South Korea have discussed about disqualifying all Mongolian athletes from the Games in response to the reaction of some Mongolian fans who in protest of unfair judgement threw water bottles to the floor and booed so loudly. Well, then we should maybe just leave this Asian Games and return all the medals to the Committee. 

After all the incidents happened already and Mongolians have protested through their Embassy in South Korea, the Organizing Committee has sent an apology letter to our  Embassy in South Korea, but the damage is done and the Koreans hurt their image and reputation  badly. Shame on you, Korea! Boo-o-o!!

p.s. Unfortunately, those who were not treated fairly (India, Mongolia, Iran) reacted differently to this unacceptable behavior and practice by the ruling body and its executives (officials and judges). While Mongolia's officials protested and fought for justice and fairness defending own athletes, Indian officials were "ashamed" of Sarita's action. They say, "We cannot let her malign India's stature in front of the world media". Unbelievable!