Protests kick up storm in karate competition

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Protests marred the karate competition at the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here on Monday, as the infuriated Indonesian squad saw its winning ways brought to a rude halt.

Only two silvers and a bronze found their way into Indonesia's coffers from a possible five golds, a sharp comedown from its haul of five gold medals on Sunday.

Indonesia claimed biased refereeing was behind its poor performance on the second day of the karate event.

The Malaysian men's team and Vietnam's women profited by sharing the top honors with three golds and two golds respectively.

Indonesia's agony began when Umar Syarif lost 2-6 to Malaysia's Manan Hj Mahmod in the men's over-80-kilogram division. Moments later, another Malaysian Arivalagan Ponniyah beat Syamsuddin in the below-75kg class.

Malaysia earned its third gold of the day in the below-80kg category through Thiagu Ponniyah.

Adding insult to Indonesia's injury was Malaysia's best hope in the women's below-60kg class Kew Yen-hoon, who upset Nilawati Daud 6-4 in the preliminary round of the competition.

A Malaysian member of the panel of judges interrupted Nilawati's match, claiming there was an illegal low blow landed by the Indonesian which went unnoticed by the referee. The Malaysian protest paid dividends, to the disappointment of Nilawati, who was leading when the appeal was called.

Kew eventually managed only the bronze, while the gold went to Vietnam's Ha Thi Kieu Trang.

Vietnam won another gold from Pham Hong Tham who competed in the women's above-60kg category.

Manan was the unlikely winner in his match against Umar, who beat him twice in their last two encounters, the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta and the 1997 Asian Championships in Macao.

Umar, fresh from his double success at the Danish Open in Copenhagen last May in which he won the gold and best competitor title, fought all-out against Manan. But a series of kicks and punches thrown by the Indonesian were ignored.

"I don't understand the way the referee judged my performance. I hit him in his face, but I was warned. Then I threw punches and kicks at Manan's stomach but I was awarded no points," Umar complained.

"When my opponent connected slightly with me, he won points."

Umar said Manan apologized after his upset win.

"He approached me after the bout and said 'I'm sorry, please give the victory to me this time, I'm already old now'."

The secretary-general of the Indonesian Karate Federation (Forki), Hendardji Soepandji, who watched Monday's fights, said Indonesia would lodge a formal protest with the Games organizers for biased refereeing.

"I have asked Forki's head of referee commission Jesse Toelle to forward Indonesia's protest to the Games council of referees. We want to make sure that no more unfair judgments will occur," Hendardji said.

Malaysian coach Thulukanam Ponniyah said he was pleased with his team's performance and backed the refereeing.

"Referees may be subjective in deciding a winner. Sometimes, a karateka throws a hard punch but earns no score from the judge's point of view," he said.

"Anyway the referee's decision is a rule which must stand." (ivy)