An Indian boxer has burst into tears and stormed off the medal dais after being presented with a bronze medal she believed she did not deserve.
Sarita Devi was awarded a bronze medal in the lightweight division at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. However during the medal ceremony, in what the International Boxing Association (AIBA) official said "looked like a well-planned scenario", she decided to take her medal off and put it around the neck of the silver medallist, Jina Park of South Korea, who defeated Devi in the semi-final in controversial circumstances.
Park immediately took the medal off and gave it back to Devi, who then left it on the podium before walking away in a distraught manner.
At the conclusion of the semi-final bout, the South Korean crowd booed the judges who awarded the result to Park, despite a late flurry of punches from Devi.
The 29-year-old stood in the middle of the ring in disbelief while her corner protested over alleged bias from the judges. India put in an official protest with the AIBA's technical jury team, but it was dismissed.
Devi, who won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, told CNN-IBN she could not stop herself but vowed to continue fighting despite the "unacceptable" decision.
"It has been 24 hours and not one official has come to speak with me and ask me if I am fine," Devi said. "They just come here to take photos with medallists and nothing else."
"I kept my child away from me to train hard. When a player trains hard and something controversial like this happens, it is very sad."
Her husband was also quoted as saying the fight was "fixed" and "uncivilised".
Her teammate and women's boxing pioneer, Mary Kom, agreed with Sarita that the judging may have been rigged.
"Of course she (Park) won because she is Korean," the flyweight gold medallist told NDTV.
Meanwhile, AIBA supervisor David Francis accused the Indian team of inflaming the situation as well as journalists who chased after officials shouting: "Koreans are stealing their medal."
"It is regretful to watch a boxer refuse the medal regardless of what happened in the competition," Francis said.
The verbal stoush has prompted flashbacks of Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian, who was banned from the sport for two years and expelled from the Olympic Games because he purposely dropped his medal while storming off the dais in 2008.
At the 1992 Barcelona Games, Russian weightlifter Ibragim Samadov was also awarded a bronze medal in controversial circumstances.
Despite lifting the same 369kg weight as his competitors, Samadov had to settle for third place because he weighed 45.4 grams more than his fellow medallists.
He refused to accept his medal and walked off the podium. He later apologised, but was banned from the sport for the life by the International Olympic Committee for his "absolutely intolerable" behaviour .
The only time the Olympic Games was held in South Korea in Seoul in 1988, the boxing judging matched Ben Johnson's failed drug test for controversy. Many critics accused the officials of bias towards South Korean boxers in what was widely considered to be payback for the judging at the Los Angeles Olympics four years earlier. There were even accusations that the East German secret police, the Stasi, were involved.
Even hometown gold medallist Si Hun Park in the light-middleweight division recognised the injustice of it all when he was clearly outpointed by burgeoning superstar Roy Jones Jr in the final. Video of the fight later showed the American landed 86 punches to 32 but three out of five judges ruled Park was better. At the medal ceremony Park lifted Jones' arm in triumph but the American later said "I don't blame him [Park]," said Jones. "He didn't score the fight. That's the worst I've ever been dealt in my life. They put the silver medal around my neck, and I took it right off. I won't put it around my neck ever again."
