S.Korea Claimed of Bias for Banning Four Thai Referees Before Asiad

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, September 27, 2002

S.Korea Claimed of Bias for Banning Four Thai Referees Before Asiad

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The angry Thai delegation claimed that bias by the host country emerged again after the Thai team arrived in Busan for the Asian Games to discover four Thai referees had been banned from the competition, the Nation newspaper reported Friday.

The four Thai judges, who were to referee amateur boxing, taekwondo, fencing and judo, were told by the South Korean organizers they would not be allowed to officiate as they had not been approved by the international bodies governing their sports.

Charouck Arirachakaran, chief of the Thai delegation and secretary-general of the Olympic Committee of Thailand (OCT), said after landing at the Gimhae International Airport of Busan Thursday that the four Thai referees had been asked earlier to make the trip to South Korea to referee during the Games, but were now rejected.

However, he said, the Busan Asian Games Organizing Committee (BAGOC) on Wednesday sent the Olympic Committee of Thailand a letter with the unreasonable claim that the Thai refereeing quartet did not get approval from their respective international sports-governing bodies, so they would not be permitted to do their duties in the Busan Games.

Charouck accused that the unfair move is the only way of the host country to enhance their chances of adding more gold to their tally.

He also noted he had gave all Thai athletes a warning that those who will compete in sporting events which rely heavily on judging such as boxing, judo, taekwondo, fencing or gymnastics are likely to receive biased judging from the judges' panel and referees.

According to the report, Amateur Taekwondo Association of Thailand sent the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) a protest letter against South Korea's unfair treatment. Learning that the Thai referee is unable to carry out his duty in the Games, the ITF had asked the host nation to give Thai referee the green light to do his job.

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