The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) confirmed yesterday it had received a letter from the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) suggesting it lift a ban imposed on referee Zheng Dawei (鄭大為).
Zheng was a referee for the 72kg-level championship match in last year’s East Asian Games when Taiwan’s Tseng Ching-hsiang (曾敬翔) fought a South Korean opponent.
During the bout Tseng was punched in the throat, an illegal move. Zheng, however, ruled that the South Korean athlete scored, which helped him win the title.
The Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association’s (CTTA) disciplinary committee suspended Zheng from coaching and refereeing for three years following comments he made upon his return from the tournament.
CTOC secretary-general Kevin Chen (陳國儀) said the ATU would hold a meeting in Kazakhstan this month, where Zheng’s case will be listed on the agenda of the ATU’s sanctions committee. If the CTOC and the CTTA resolve the matter before then, the case will not be on the agenda, Chen said.
The ATU said in the letter that any ruling against Zheng should be handed down by its ethics committee, adding that the union would in the future forbid international referees from commenting on the results of bouts.
DISPARAGING REMARKS
The letter added that the union would not tolerate any race-related comments about taekwondo and said that CTTA competition division chief Huang Ching-hsiang (黃清祥) should send an official apology to the ATU for making such remarks.
Huang has been accused of making disparaging remarks about Koreans in the aftermath of the bout.
Coleman Lee (李正勇), a Taiwanese member serving at the World Taekwondo Federation Council, was reported in local media on Tuesday as saying that the CTTA’s penalty against Zheng was perceived as an outright challenge to the ATU’s authority.
Taiwan’s right to compete in international games could also be suspended because of the ruling, Lee said.
The letter, however, did not mention anything about suspending Taiwan’s right to participate in international competitions. The CTTA ruled last week to reinstate Zheng’s referee status, but upheld his three-year suspension from coaching.
It also suspended Huang’s rights to be a coach and referee for three years and removed him from his position at the CTTA.
“The ATU probably has not received the update from the CTTA yet,” Chen said.
Chen said that while the ATU is entitled to regulate the behavior of international referees, the CTTA also has the right to regulate the acts of its members, coaches and players.
Whether the ATU or CTTA has the right to rule on the case is open to discussion, he said.
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