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 - - -