Int’l body bans protests

MANILA, Philippines - The age of dissent has been legislated to extinction by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) as the recently concluded Asian Games in Incheon wrote the final chapter of democracy in the wake of controversial decisions that were reminiscent of the 1988 Seoul Olympics under the term of former president Anwar Chowdury.

Last July, the AIBA Executive Committee headed by president Dr. Ching Kuo Wu of Chinese-Taipei ruled that the sport’s world governing federation will ban protests after the Asian Games, prohibiting disagreement over the outcome of fights and making every decision final. The technical supervisor of a tournament, however, is given the right to file a written complaint on a referee for rule violations but the outcome of a fight is irreversible. The Committee also decided to extend the age limit for elite male and female boxers from 34 to 40.  

In Incheon, at least two protests were submitted to technical supervisor David Francis of Wales. India and Mongolia filed protests claiming their fighters were robbed of victory by judges who were partial to Koreans. The protest filing fee of $500 was forfeited. The protests were dismissed because they were not based on infractions by a referee. If the Asian Games were under the new AIBA rules, the protests would not have been entertained outright.

In 1988, speculation of corruption was widespread as decisions seemed to favor certain interest groups in boxing at the Seoul Olympics. The most glaring incident was Roy Jones’ loss on points to Korean Park Si Hun in the lightmiddleweight finals. Today, AIBA is led by Dr. Wu who has been the president for eight years and is up for reelection in Jeju, Korea, on Nov. 14. The AIBA executive director is Ho Kim, a Korean.

“I don’t think money changed hands in Incheon,” said an Asian Games insider. “But there was clearly influence peddling going around particularly as Ho Kim appeared to choose the referee and judges for fights in disrespect of the tournament supervisor. You get favored treatment from AIBA when you host international competitions at your expense. Kazakhstan, for instance, is highly favored for putting up the World Boxing Academy at no cost to AIBA.”

The AIBA World Boxing Academy is a 21,000 square meter training and convention facility in the Almaty region. It was formally inaugurated by Dr. Wu a few days before the start of the Asian Games and is AIBA’s showcase of the “Road To Dream” program. It was no surprise that in Incheon, Kazakhstan was the dominant country in boxing with six gold, two silver and two bronze medals. Kazakhs ruled the flyweight, welterweight, middleweight, lightheavyweight, heavyweight and superheavyweight divisions in the tournament that brought in 216 fighters from 34 nations. Next in the medal standings was host South Korea with a harvest of two gold, three silvers and one bronze. The Philippines ranked No. 10 in the medal standings with no gold, one silver and three bronzes. Only 16 countries claimed medals. The Philippines finished behind Kazakhstan, South Korea, China, India, Thailand, Mongolia, North Korea, Uzbekistan and Iran in the honor roll. In terms of total medals, the Philippines was tied for fourth with Uzbekistan behind only Kazakhstan, South Korea and India.

Koreans eliminated Filipino fighters Mark Anthony Barriga and Ian Clark Bautista. Three Filipinos lost to eventual gold medalists –lightflyweight Barriga to Korea’s Shin Jong Hun, lightweight Charly Suarez to Mongolia’s Dorjnyambuu Otgindalai and lightweight Nesthy Petecio to China’s Yin Juhna. Six of the eight Filipinos in the boxing team were taken out by medalists. Only Bautista and lightwelterweight Dennis Galvan lost to fighters who failed to make it to the podium.

The Philippine boxing team posted a record of 15 wins and eight losses. Only Galvan failed to notch a victory. At the 2010 Asian Games, the Filipino team of six boxers had a record of 10 wins and five losses with a gold, a silver and a bronze to show. Suarez, fighting as a bantamweight, lost in his first outing to a Kazakh. Lightwelterweight Delfin Boholst also failed to register a win in Guangzhou. Welterweight Wilfredo Lopez bowed out in the quarterfinals to a Mongolian. Suarez and Lopez were the only holdovers who returned to fight in Incheon. Flyweight Rey Saludar captured the gold, flyweight Annie Albania the silver and lightflyweight Vic Saludar the bronze in 2010.

The Filipino boxers who collected medals in Incheon were Suarez with a silver and Barriga, bantamweight Mario Fernandez and Lopez with a bronze apiece. It was reported that Haider Farman of the Olympic Council of Asia asked for a copy of the letter expressing concern on the conduct of the tournament sent by ABAP executive director Ed Picson to Francis early in the competition. Farman wrote to Francis about the incident of an Indian female fighter refusing to accept her bronze medal on the podium.

In his letter, Picson referred to Bautista’s loss to a Korean and said, “We felt strongly that Bautista won the fight and the reaction of the crowd reinforces that argument.” But Picson withheld filing a protest so as not to antagonize AIBA and jeopardize the medal hopes of the other Filipino fighters. That would’ve been the last protest ever to be filed by the Philippines in an AIBA competition.