Thailand retains gymnastic crown
Thailand retains gymnastic crown
JAKARTA (JP): Sweeping all the four gold medals on offer in the rhythmic competitions yesterday, tallying its medals to 12 golds, six silvers and four bronzes, Thailand won the overall title of the second Southeast Asian Junior Gymnastics Championships.
Yet the last day of the one-week meet was marred by a fierce protest from Thailand's Bulgarian coach B.B. Ignatova who accused the judges of unfair scoring and threatened to pull out of the championships.
"Disgusting! Indonesian gymnasts made many mistakes yet they always got high scores," Ignatova blasted, complaining that the judges always underscored her gymnasts.
Ignatova said it was unfair that Aunchana Yeaksukon was given only 7.630 for her routine with the ball despite the high techniques she demonstrated.
"Aunchana was very upset and cried. That's why she lost her concentration during the next routine with the clubs and dropped the clubs," said Ignatova emotionally.
Ignatova said that as a rule, the range of scoring difference should not exceed 0.3 but the judges scored 7.630 with a difference of 0.6. Ignatova claimed that although her gymnasts performances were not free of mistakes, they showed a much higher level of difficulty compared to the Indonesian gymnasts who performed fundamental routines only.
"This is an open competition. People are free to see for themselves any mistakes our gymnasts made. It would be crazy for us to let them win if they do not deserve it," said Andi Darusalam Tabusala chairman of the organizing committee.
Wice Sampoerna, the mother of national gymnast Wini Sari, told The Jakarta Post there was some truth to what Ignatova said. "But as a coach, she has no right to protest. If Thailand wanted to protest it should be through its head of delegation," Wice said.
"If Thailand was holding this meet, would there be a guarantee that they would score fairly? At the previous Southeast Asian Games my daughter Wini was given a score lower than what she deserved but I was silent," Wice said.
In response to Ignatova's protest, the heads of each participating country held a meeting. Aunchana's score was revised to 7.820 but that meant very little as she remained behind Indonesia's Nita Mardiana who scored 7.90.
After the meeting, Khaw Chou Ean, who headed the judges, acknowledged that the judges made an error. "But it was only a mistake in calculating the scores, not in scoring itself," she said. (arf)
Medal tally
G S B Thailand 12 6 4 Indonesia 5 5 6 Malaysia 2 1 2 Vietnam 1 - - Philippine - 2 2 Myanmar - - - Singapore - - -