Controversy as S. Korea wins badminton gold

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

Indonesian shuttlers failed to bring home the gold medal in the prestigious men's badminton team event after surrendering 1-3 to host South Korea.

It was the first time that international referees and umpires were called in to replace the local linesmen.

During the first game, local linesmen gave at least three bad calls in favor of Shon Seung-mo, who eventually won the first singles match against Taufik Hidayat.

The umpire was forced to retract her decision in the third game after a replay was shown on the huge monitors.

No replays have ever been shown in a badminton tournament to provide clear judgment, and no umpire has ever been forced to retract his or her decision.

"We anticipated problems, but we did not expect it to be this bad," Indonesian team manager Christian Hadinata told reporters after the match.

Christian said the host committed the irregularities on purpose to distract Taufik from concentrating on his game.

"The fact that all South Korean linesmen were replaced by international umpires and referees proves that we were right," he added.

The incident started in the beginning of the game, but Taufik and the Indonesian team said they had to control their temper.

They became angry though in the second game when Taufik was left behind 9-12 and his return was called as being out even though it was inside Shon's court.

Taufik questioned the umpire about the decision as he had felt that the linesman's decision was biased in the first game when he lost 13-15.

Unable to control his temper, the chairman of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), Chairul Tanjung, moved forward to push the linesman, which upset the South Korean team. Other team members had to separate Chairul from Korean team manager Kim Jong-soo, who was provoked by Chairul's action.

Chairul then ordered Taufik to leave the court.

The linesman was then replaced, but it was too late as the Indonesian team had walked off the court.

The Indonesian contingent, however, asked the shuttlers to return to their bench.

Chef-de-mission Rudolf S. Warouw and chairman of the National Sports Council (KONI) Wismoyo had to personally appeal to the shuttlers to reconsider their decision.

It was the second time that an incident occurred in an important match for Taufik. During the final match of the Thomas Cup in May, Chinese linesmen had also made bad calls. But it did not turn into a major incident as the organizing committee quickly moved to replace the linesmen.

The Indonesian team had a closed-door meeting to decide whether they would continue to play or not. After about one hour, Taufik and the rest of the shuttlers returned to the court, but the match did not resume immediately.

After a prolonged discussion, both teams agreed to return to the court, with Shon having the serve and retaining his 12-9 lead.

In regaining his composure, Taufik won the second game 15-13.

Taufik was leading 10-3 when Shon managed to tie it 10-10, and then by shooting ahead, 13-10.

At that point, another linesman called a return from Shon as being in, when others said it was out.

Taufik demanded a replay on the huge monitor screen and it showed that the shuttlecock was out.

Referee Boon Kong Ee, who was sitting behind the linesman, ordered the umpire to retract the decision, which met with protests from the Korean team. Boon said he saw that the shuttlecock was out.

Shon finished the match 17-16 in a tight game.

South Korea extended its lead after second singles Lee Hyun-il outclassed Rony Agustinus 15-3, 15-5 without any difficulty.

There were four international referees sitting on the linesmen's bench while another sat behind a local linesman.

In further recognition of Indonesia's complaint against the refereeing, four umpires sat on the linesmen's bench instead of the 10 local linesmen in the remaining matches.

Indonesia's first doubles of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto reduced the deficit 1-2, beating Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Young-soon with a 15-12, 15-10 victory.

Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon secured South Korea's gold medal after outbesting Halim Heryanto and Tri Kusheryanto 15-3, 15-6 in 30 minutes.

The 3-1 victory meant that the last match of third singles Hendrawan against Park Tae-sang did not need to be played.

Meanwhile, I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana was officially awarded his men's heavyweight mistral gold medal in the afternoon.

Oka did not participate in the eleventh race. Chinese Mo Zehai and Japanese Kenzo Motokazu won the silver and bronze medals respectively.