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Boxing nationals: Olympian’s DQ for headbutt sparks row
Tokyo Olympian Ashish Chaudhary was disqualified for a headbutt, sparking controversy and protests over refereeing decisions.
Greater Noida: Tokyo Olympian Ashish Chaudhary’s disqualification for a headbutt has sparked a refereeing controversy at the Elite National Boxing Championships here.
The 2019 Asian Championships medallist and his state unit Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association launched a strong protest after his disqualification for ‘intentional headbutt’ against Haryana’s Rupesh in an 80kg bout on Monday night.
The bout was barely into the second minute when close action saw the boxers clash heads, leaving the Haryana boxer bleeding from the nose. The referee stopped the bout, gave a standing count to Rupesh and called for medical attention. The doctor suggested that the injured boxer cannot fight any further.
“While Rupesh was being attended to by the doctor, the referee signalled ‘unintentional blow’ but later changed his decision on the instruction of the Deputy Technical Delegate and disqualified me. This is so unfair,” said Chaudhary, who left the hall protesting against his ouster.
“The deputy TD (Narendra Kumar Nirwan) gave instructions to the referee to disqualify, which is against the competition rules of World Boxing. In such cases, once the referee has given his decision, the bout is settled on points as per rules. We request you to reconduct the bout,” HPBA manager Vinod Kumar said in his letter to the BFI’s technical delegate.
BFI executive director Arun Malik said the technical delegate held an inquiry and took the referee’s statement. “He was not given duty for the day as the enquiry proceedings were taking place. As per the technical delegate, the referee has followed the rules of World Boxing. He has now been put back on duty,” said Malik.
Chaudhary, one of India’s best in the middleweight, argued that it could be clearly made out from the video what happened. “Why are they doing this to me? This is unfair. Why have they taken out the video of my bout from streaming?”
When HT spoke to some BFI technical officials, they raised questions on the decision and the way it was handled. “Nirwan is not even a National Technical Official and he was officiating as a Dy TD. A deputy TD cannot overrule the decision of the referee in the ring because he is closer to the boxer,” said a technical expert who has also conducted international competitions.
