Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) yesterday said a decision by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) last week to suspend taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) over a footwear controversy constituted bullying.
“Yang was bullied,” Tai told a meeting at the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
Asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧) to assess the situation, Tai said she “absolutely agreed” the nation was bullied by the WTF and the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) over the controversy.
Tai made the remark in response to the WTF’s decision on Tuesday last week to ban Yang from participating in -competitions for three months and to suspend Yang’s coach, Liu Tsung-ta (劉聰達), for one year and eight months.
The Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association was fined US$50,000 because Yang and Liu protested the decision ringside at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, on Nov. 17.
Yang was disqualified for allegedly breaking the rules by wearing extra electronic sensors in her socks to register more points.
She was leading her opponent 9-0 when she was disqualified and a dumbfounded Yang refused to leave the arena for an extended period of time despite requests by officials for her to do so.
Video replays of the match showed Yang had removed the two sensors before the fight. -Inconsistent explanations by taekwondo officials about Yang’s disqualification raised questions about the legitimacy of the dismissal and sparked anger among Taiwanese against the WTF, ATU and even South Koreans.
Tai said that although the government would not give up appealing the decision on Yang’s behalf at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, the nation did not have the authority to either accept or reject the suspension ruling.
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