Hackers attacked the Web site of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) after it punished Taiwanese athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) for protesting her disqualification at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last month, media reported yesterday.
On Tuesday, the federation announced it was suspending Yang for three months and her coach, Liu Tsung-ta (劉聰達), for one year and eight months over a ringside protest about her disqualification for allegedly using extra sensors on her socks.
“Still unfair,” hackers wrote on the federation’s Web site on Tuesday night, Central News Agency reported.
The Seoul-based federation announced the suspensions in a -letter to the Chinese Taipei Amateur Taekwondo Association. It also fined the association US$50,000 for “negligence and wrongdoing” for its role in the controversy.
“The outcome was worse than expected,” association chief Chen Chien-ping (陳建平) said.
Chou Rui (周瑞), deputy director of the Sports Affairs Council’s International Sports Department, said the council was not satisfied with the ruling.
“We will continue by preparing an appeal for Yang at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland,” he said.
Yang’s bout was stopped and she was disqualified while leading 9-0 in the first round because her socks, with detachable electronic sensors, were ruled illegal. However, video footage of the fight showed that she had removed the sensors before the bout began.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to step up diplomatic pressure on South Korea to help Yang clear her name.
During a meeting in the legislature, Chou asked Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Thomas Hou (侯平福) to find out if Representative to South Korea Benjamin Liang (梁英斌) had clearly explained the matter to the WTF.
“I was really angry [at the WTF ruling] … the ministry must toughen the government’s position,” he said.
The ministry should intensify diplomatic measures, Chou said.
“You can’t just sit there and say this is the sports council’s -business,” Chou said, adding that the controversy should be treated as a matter of diplomatic affairs.
Chou said the ministry must help Yang clear her name and defend the interests of the nation.
Hou told lawmakers that he was “as angry as [Chou].”
“I am afraid there isn’t much the ministry can do, as WTF members are all South Koreans,” Hou said.
However, he said he agreed with Chou that the government “should not accept the results.”
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