Taiwanese fighter Hsia Wen-huang (夏文皇) was disqualified yesterday in a karate bout at the Asian Games in Guangzhou for an illegal punch against his Afghan opponent.
Hsia was leading 6-1 against Sayed Amiri in the men’s under-60kg quarter-final when Amiri collapsed from a blow to the head that was deemed to be a serious violation of the rules.
With Hsia having two previous violations in the bout, Amiri was declared the winner. The Afghan fighter, however, relinquished his right to compete in the semi-finals for physical reasons.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Under the rules of the sport, this left Hsia with no chance of going any further in the competition.
Huang Chi-yung (黃智勇), coach of the Taiwanese karate team, later appealed the disqualification with the judges, accusing Amiri of faking injury.
Huang said Amiri was seen moving around soon after he was taken away on a stretcher.
The decision, however, was upheld by the panel of judges on the basis of a physician’s diagnosis that Amiri did lose consciousness immediately after the blow.
A depressed Hsia said he had not broken any rules and that it was the first time he had been declared the loser in a bout because of a serious violation.
“I believe I was fighting the right way. My opponent kind of faked his injury. It seemed as if he lost consciousness during the match, but he appeared quite happy and healthy as soon as he left the ring,” Hsia said.
“My coach is submitting a protest to the judging panel. I punched him here [pointing to the chin], but I had made a motion of pulling back my hand. I didn’t do it on purpose. If I engaged in a malicious attack, he should have been checked into hospital immediately for further examination, but they didn’t do that,” Hsia added.
In Taipei, Sports Affairs Council Deputy Minister Steven Chen (陳士魁) said the council had received an official report from the nation’s Asian Games delegation in Guangzhou yesterday afternoon that said the incident occurred with 30 seconds remaining in the match.
The report added that while Hsia’s coach filed a complaint immediately after the contest, the referees had maintained their original ruling.
Chen said Hsia’s case was very different from that of taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君), who was controversially disqualified at the Asian Games last week over allegations that she attached extra sensors to her socks.
Coincidentally, the disqualifications of Yang and Hsia took place at the same ring.
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