South Korea’s Shin A-lam returned to the fencing piste on Monday after making a one-hour protest against a controversial judge’s call that had cost her the chance of a gold medal.
Shin was physically escorted off the piste after her team argued against the award of a winning touch to Germany’s Britta Heidemann in the epee semi-final.
The defending champion from Germany later went on to lose the final to Ukrainian Yana Shemyakina, while Shin was beaten 15-11 by top seed Sun Yujie of China in the bronze-medal match.
Photo: EPA
After initial discussions resulted in Heidemann being awarded the final touch in the semi-final, a stunned Shin did not move.
The South Korean did not leave the piste as this would have indicated she accepted the decision of the judge, Austrian Barbara Csar. By staying, Shin was exercising her rights under the rules.
An indelible image of Shin will linger in the memory, a 25-year-old looking dejected as she sat on a dramatically spot-lit piste, pristine in her white uniform with a towel draped over her shoulders.
Her coach, Shim Jae-sung, lodged a written complaint that was ultimately rejected by the Federation International d’Escrime (FIE), fencing’s governing body.
“I did everything I could,” Shim said in an interview while standing outside the FIE office at the Excel Centre.
Executive members of the FIE board were meeting late into the night discussing the contents of a statement due for release yesterday.
“They said your fencer has to continue the match, so I had to accept the decision,” Shim said.
“Shin told me: ‘I am OK,’ but I fear she is not OK,” the drained-looking coach added.
Germany’s fencing delegation head, Manfred Kaspar, and Shim were seen having calm discussions while the officials deliberated.
“I completely agree with my colleague from [South] Korea’s decision to make a protest against a refereeing decision. We are not angry,” Kaspar said.
The row erupted when two double-touches were recorded with a second to go and Shin thought she had triumphed, but a single second was put back on the clock after some discussion. Heidemann then unleashed a blistering surge forward, hitting Shin, while also avoiding her blade.
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
RSS