Officials from taekwondo’s world governing body stopped just short of accusing a Taiwanese athlete of cheating, defending their decision to disqualify her in what was the first major judging controversy at the 2010 Asian Games.
Yang Shu-chun’s (楊淑君) disqualification from her under-49kg match has set off a furor overnight in Taiwan.
Taiwanese media and online commentaries accused China of playing dirty tricks to help their own competitor, Wu Jingyu (吳靜鈺), win the gold.
World Taekwondo Federation secretary general Yang Jin-suk deflected suggestions of controversy at a hastily arranged news conference yesterday. He said that although Yang Shu-chun had passed a pre-fight inspection, a representative of the equipment manufacturer spotted illegal palm-sized sensors attached to the heels of her socks during the competition and alerted match officials.
The sensors are used to indicate impact, and are used in scoring taekwondo.
“It’s clearly manipulative behavior, intent of cheating, that’s the reason why the individual was disqualified,” Yang Jin-suk said.
“Are we happy? No. It’s very sad to make that decision,” he said.
Yang Jin-suk said he was not accusing the 25-year-old Taiwanese of cheating, only that he was relaying the facts of an initial investigation.
Officials have not yet interviewed the athlete or her coach, and any possible longer-term punishment would not be issued until after the Asian Games, he said.
Yang Shu-chun was leading 9-0 in the first round on Wednesday when her bout was stopped. She refused to leave the mat for a while and tearfully argued the call. Her coach also pleaded with officials for an explanation.
Yang Jin-suk said there was no question of whether rules were breached. The sensors were “taken away from the player’s socks in the competition area. How can we deny that?” he said.
The taekwondo official showed the sensors to reporters, explaining how they are meant to be attached to either side of the sock’s instep and had apparently been trimmed to fit the felt-like fabric reinforcing the elastic on the back of the sock.
“It is so obvious it is not designed to go on the heel,” he said, saying the manufacturer has never made a product with a sensor in that spot.
When asked how inspectors could have missed the sensors in pre-match checks, he said it was beside the point because they were a clear violation of rules.
The patches could have easily been attached after the check, he added.
“This is detachable,” he said, holding up a sensor, made of black plastic material and covered in gold dots. “It can be put on anytime, anywhere. It is very small, it can be easily hidden.”
Several questions remained unanswered. How could a seasoned athlete like Yang, who was favored in the matchup against Thi Hau Vu of Vietnam, not be aware of rules for taekwondo equipment? But if she was indeed trying to cheat, the tactic seemed disingenuous since the sensors were attached to the outside of the sock and could easily be spotted, as they eventually were.
WTF officials said a full inquiry would be held into the incident although a final decision would only be made once the Games conclude on Nov. 27.
“Human errors come in three components — an intentional mistake, an accidental mistake and a mistake from ignorance,” Yang Jin-suk said.
“We’ll determine which one. In the process, all the factors are weighed in,” he said.-
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the