This is coming straight from the 17th Asian Games currently going on in Incheon. I heard the news today and it made me really sad and disappointed. Sarita Devi lost her Asian Games lightweight (57-60kg) boxing semifinal against South Korea’s Jina Park. There have been many controversies around it, It is believed that just because the judges were Koreans they made a bias decision by giving the game to Jina Park.

I came across a lot of news article and videos wherein Sarita has poured her heart out. I read the reports where it was pretty clear that the first two rounds the match was quite competitive but the last two rounds were owned by Sarita. She even made the local fans awestruck by her deadly punches. Nowadays matches are conducted based on the points, which makes the decision very dubious. Everyone, right from the players to the spectators agreed that Sarita should have won the bout.

Her husband was also very disappointment, and his anger was clearly seen when he was screaming “You f***king Koreans have stolen this medal,”. He also told the reporters that “The bout was fixed and this was an uncivilized decision.” Similar case was heard from Mangolia, both Mongolia and India has filed a protest on similar grounds but later the protests were rejected.

Sarita Devi was heartbroken, she broke into tears while talking to the reporters. She told the reporters that she was staying away from her kid so that she can concentrate on her training, she did her best and if because of no reason and biased judgement she loses the match then India should have taken a stand for them. She also said that “When it comes to winning medals, we always come in the front for India. Why didn’t we protest. There’s a bias against us as we’re from the North-east. Are we not from India?”. With her teary eyes she also apologized to all the people from Manipur who were expecting her to come home with a medal. It was so heartfelt that even after such a controversy the lady is humble enough to say sorry for something she didn’t do, such is her modesty for a nation who didn’t took a solid stand for her

What made me more disappointed was her resentment towards the Indian authorities, and the thought that she is from north east not from India crawled in her mind. I have some background of sports too and I know how it feels when your team or your country gives up on you. It feels as if you did all this for nothing.

I just hope the Indian Boxing Federation takes a stand on this, because such incidents only demolishes the confidence and the mettle of the players. All I want to say here is maybe you weren’t able to do a plus one in the medal tally for India but for me you are a hero. You are truly an inspiration for everyone out there. Your tears aren’t wasted and so I am making sure that this story goes viral and everyone comes to know about it.

Have you heard about the incident ?

Comments

comments