The way officials act is
most condemnable. Firstpost reports that barely 15 minutes after Mongolian
boxer Tugstsogt Nyambayar was controversially ousted from the men’s
bantamweight category, their entire contingent decided to take the
International Boxing Association (AIBA) head on. Like Sarita Devi, Nyambayar
lost to a South Korean opponent after a controversial decision. When the bout was awarded to to Sangmyeong Ham, immediately, the Mongolian
officials swung into action. Their chef de mission, Badmaanyambu Baterdene
reached the venue within minutes, took up the issue with the organisers and led
the protest. While the Mongolian officials were swift to act, the Indian
Olympic Association (IOA) office-bearers chose not to involve themselves in
Sarita’s case. Sarita did not even have the $500 required to lodge a protest
with AIBA. Her husband had to depend on Sarita’s coach Lenin Meitei and an
Indian journalist to pay the amount. Pathetic.
The boxer, who felt she was
a victim of a ‘pre-determined’ bout, waited for almost an hour for assistance
as she and her husband Thoiba Singh tried to work out a way to submit an
official protest. Indian Express reports
that although senior IOA officials and deputy chef de mission were present at
the venue, none offered assistance.
And today, Sarita Devi responded emotionally. Firstpost reports that Sarita came into the
auditorium after the gold medal bout in
57-60 kg (Lightweight) category between Park Jina (KOR) and Junhua Yin
(CHN) came to an end. The four boxers gathered around the podium -- waiting
patiently. At this point, Sarita seemed composed. She looked like she had been
crying all night but she wasn't crying at that point. She couldn't hold back
when she climbed on the podium and burst out crying. She waved at her fans -- who
were all chanting her name. As the official approached her with the bronze
medal, she refused to allow him to put the medal around her neck. Instead,
after some pleading from the official -- she simply held the medal in her hand.
Her tears were flowing profusely by this point. The crowd egging her on all
this while -- some cheers, some slogans. Then, as the Chinese national anthem
started to play... Sarita got off the podium and walked over to Park Jina --
the Korean who emerged victorious in their semi-final bout -- and put the
bronze medal around Jina's neck.
After putting the medal around the Korean's neck,
Sarita went and stood back on the podium. This time, the Korean followed her
and pleaded with her to take her medal back. Sarita -- held Park Jina's face in
her hands and tenderly refused. She eventually relented and kept the medal in
her hands. Then, as she was leaving the ring -- she left her medal on the
podium. She wanted none of this. An official later picked up the medal for safe
keeping. Sarita is quoted as saying :
"I felt that I should not accept the medal because I deserved to be in the
final. I don't mind if they take any action against me. But I did not feel like
accepting the medal and so I did that."
The AIBA, at present, has no provision in their rules
as to what action can be initiated for such an incident. There are some who
might want to go into the rights and wrongs of Sarita's actions but this wasn't
a rational decision. This was an emotional decision made by someone who felt
wronged; who felt robbed and who at 32 may never fight at the highest level
again. The hurt for sure, will not go away easily. But if words could help -- then
in our eyes, Sarita doesn't need a medal. She is a winner all the way. We all
know that Sarita Devi And Devendro Singh deserved better. We all know they
deserved to be in the final/semi-final and were betrayed by the decisions of
the bumbling judges. We all also know that the rules stated that the decision
of the judges was final -- it could not be appealed against.
But what we did not know is that while Sarita Devi
and her husband were crying their hearts out -- the Indian officials were
looking to find the quickest way to exit. Their strategy seems to be simple:
"Exit at the first sign of trouble." So really in the aftermath of
the 'fixing' incident, there is just one question that really needs to be
asked: Can the officials who refused to help Sarita or Devendro be suspended
pending an inquiry? Can they be sacked if found to have shirked their duties?
Can they be banned from going on any such 'vacation' again? The IOA was more
than happy to pay a $10,000 fine when they withdrew the rugby team but they
couldn't cough up the $500 dollars to help a deserving athlete mount an appeal
against a clearly wrong decision. The athletes job is to go out and give
his/her absolute best in competition. The officials job is to ensure that all
the logistics and other requests are taken care of. So when an official goes
missing in their time of need, what is one supposed to make of it?
One feels extremely sorry
for Sarita and sad plight of officialdom.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar.
1st Oct 2014.
PS : largely reproduced from Firstpost moved by the sad plight of Sarita Devi.
