Thursday, August 02, 2012 -
The boxing governing authority (AIBA) was forced to expel a Turkmen judge from the Olympics on Thursday after he failed to stop the fight between a Japanese and Azerbaijani boxer despite the Azerbaijani being knocked down six times.
Turkmen judge Ishanguly Meretnyyazov ruled each fall as a slip, which allowed the Azerbaijani fighter to stay in the match and ultimately be declared the victor.
The fight was reversed on appeal, and the victory went to Satoshi Shimizu of Japan.
The Turkmen judge, Ishanguly Meretnyyazov, “is on his way back home,” the AIBA said in a statement released Thursday morning.
“I deeply regret that we had to take these decisions,” AIBA President C.K. Wu said in a statement.
“However, our main concern will always be the protection of the integrity and fair play of our competitions. I will take all possible steps to reinforce this.”
The AIBA also suspended German referee Frank Scharmach for five days in the wake of his decision to disqualify an Iranian heavyweight. An Azerbaijani judge was also expelled for “a number of breaches”.