London: The Indian boxing team filed a protest on Saturday of its own against the International Amateur Boxing Association’s (AIBA) decision to overturn Vikas Krishnan’s pre-quarterfinal win against American Errol Spence.
In a stunning turn of events, Vikas (69kg) was ousted from the Games after AIBA overturned the result of the bout he had won following a review.
The 20-year-old had won 13-11 over Errol Spence in a thrilling contest late on Friday night, but following an appeal by his rival’s team management, AIBA awarded the bout 15-13 to the American citing the fouls committed by the Indian, which were not noticed by the referee.
While agreeing that Vikas had gone into a clinch with his rival, the Indians have claimed that the American was equally guilty of the same offence.
National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said the Indians will challenge the observations made by the competition jury, which felt that Vikas should have been penalised four points for holding his rival nine times and deliberately spitting out his gumshield during the bout.
“The American was guilty of holding Vikas four times according to us. As for spitting the gumshield, that may or may not be considered because the referee had failed to spot it during the bout,” Sandhu said.
Asked about the chances of India’s counter-appeal getting any favourable result, Sandhu said, “I can’t say for sure what will happen but we will ensure that our version is also taken into account.”
Asked if it was too late to appeal now, India’s chef de mission PKM Raja said: “No boxer starts protesting after winning a bout. Now that the decision has been reversed, we’d like to bring to their notice the other fouls which have been committed by the other boxer which have not been taken into consideration.
“We also have a right to be heard. I’m sure it (an appeal) would stand.”
An AIBA official seemed to pour cold water on that idea, however, saying that the Jury’s decision cannot be appealed.
Based on the findings of the review, the jury members “unanimously” decided to award Spence four points, thereby making him the winner.
Indian Olympic Association vice-president Tarlochan Singh said he felt the jury had been swayed by the Americans.
“(It) is visible that (the) jury has been influenced by the American lobby…this is a wrong decision,” Singh said.
Boxing at the Olympics has been marred by several controversies with AIBA’s scoring system coming under severe criticism and two judges have been suspended after protests by participating teams.
Amateur boxing’s scoring system has always been a subject of controversy. Under the system, five ringside judges award points when they feel a punch has landed. The highest and the lowest scores are discarded and a mean of the three most consistent scores is taken to decide the victor. (Agencies)