New Delhi: Home advantage has always been considered as big bonus for a sportsperson. And as the on-going Asian Games are taking place at Incheon (South Korea), one can expect their athletes to get that benefit.
But the way things have turned out in the boxing ring at Asiad 2014, it seems as if the S Korean boxers have the support of referees and umpires too, who are officiating the bouts.
The biased decision making towards the Korean boxers has been quite evident during the many boxing bouts in the last couple of days.
From Indian boxers, to Mongolians, to Filipino, all were at the receiving end of the poor decision making.
But sadly for India, two of their well-known pugilists came under the trap when they were pitted against the Koreans.
First, ace Indian boxer Sarita Devi, on Tuesday had to settle for a bronze medal despite dominating her semifinal bout against local favourite Jina Park in the 60kg category. The 32-year-old boxer from Manipur dominated majority of the bout. The judges, however, thought otherwise and declared the Korean as the winner.
Later on the day, India's most promising young pugilist Devendro Singh too was handed an unbelievable 0-3 loss verdict against his Korean rival, despite dominating the second and third rounds in the quarterfinals.
Mongolian boxer Tugstsogt Nyambayar too was the victim of biased decision making during his bout with the South Korean boxer Ham Sang Myeong. Soon after this match, Mongolia threatened to withdraw all their boxers.
In another instance, Filipino boxer Lan Clark Bautista failed to win against Choe Sangdon, despite dictating terms throughout the bout.
These four cases are enough to understand the edge South Korean boxers have at the Incheon Asiad. Now it's high-time Asian Games organising committee should intervene and made a committee to probe the entire matter.
