SEAG ref format favors Thais

Knowing they couldn’t beat the Filipino taekwondo jins on the mat, the Thais are trying to beat them through the referees.

Robert Aventajado, the country’s taekwondo chief, yesterday said RP and several other nations seeing action in next month’s 24th Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand have protested the host Thais’ decision to allow each participating country to send just one referee each instead of the usual practice of sending in three.

The excuse used by Thailand was it will use 15 “neutral” referees instead but this raised eyebrows and forced the other participants to file a letter of protest including the Philippines, according to Aventajado.

“The practice in the last five SEA Games editions was each country was allowed to send three referees. Now they want us to bring in only one, why the sudden change?” Aventajado told The STAR.

Aventajado said the case is now being seriously discussed by both the Asian Taekwondo Union and the World Taekwondo Federation, the world’s biggest governing bodies in the sport.

“It’s now in the ATU and WTF, they would decide anytime soon, maybe before the SEA Games starts,” Aventajado said.

Aventajado said the country has a strong chance of winning four to five gold medals.

RP, in fact, is sending three Filipinos to the Asian Continental Championships set Nov. 28-30 in Ho Chi Min, Vietnam where slots to the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be contested.

They are Alex Briones, Toni Rivero and Elaine Allora. The only Filipino to have gained a berth is Thsomlee Go, who hurdled the World Qualifiers in England two months ago.

“Our target is four to five gold medals in the SEA Games,” said Aventajado, whose taekwondo team snared six gold medals in the 2005 Manila Games.

“In Vietnam, we hope to qualify more athletes to Beijing,” he added.