INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA: The UAE lashed out at biased refereeing despite Marwan Abdullah Al Mazmi winning a bronze medal in the men’s individual kata at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games here on Thursday.
Given a first-round bye, Al Mazmi lost narrowly to Indonesia’s Fidelys Lolobua to move into a repechage contest instead of being in line for the gold.
In his first bout of the repechage against Qatar’s Adham Abdul Nasser Hashem, Al Mazmi easily won 5-0 while performing in the Gojushiho Dai style. He then beat Hong Kong’s Cheng Tsz Man Chris 3-2 to win the bronze.
Lolobua lost 3-2 against Malaysia’s Lim Chee Wei in the contest for the gold medal.
Al Mazmi told Gulf News: “That [winning 3-2] is a very tricky scoreline. The same thing was for me in the first bout [against Lolobua]. It means there is very little difference between the two athletes and one flag can make all the difference. I definitely thought I could have been contesting for the gold instead of a bronze.
“I seemed to have more referees from East Asian countries during my bouts. Definitely they are going to be influenced to rule in favour of surrounding countries.”
The UAE’s Iranian coach Mohammad Ebrahim Naderbeigi was more emphatic in his criticism, saying: “It’s dirty refereeing from the officials.
“Refereeing is so much controlled by the region you hail from. For instance, Marwan had three referees from the East Asia region and the remaining two were from Turkmenistan and Kuwait. Of course, the player from Indonesia will get a decision in his favour.
“In my opinion, Marwan was the better player in that first bout. The sad thing about kata is that there is no provision to lodge official protests against refereeing decisions. So we have to accept the decisions. We have no choice till such time there are rule changes to this effect.”
Nasser Al Razooki, General Secretary of the UAE Taekwondo and Karate Association, said he would lodge a strong protest about the refereeing.
“Maybe things will improve in the future, but for the time being we have to accept this decision and take home a bronze medal,” he said.
The UAE has another two karatekas in the competition — Jaber Jassim Al Zaabi in the men’s -84kg category and Sulaiman Abdul Kader Al Mulla in the men’s +84kg, contesting on Friday and Saturday.