Boxing:Amateur boxing's world governing body AIBA has overturned the result of last night's bantamweight fight between Satoshi Shimizu and Magomed Abdulhamidov and awarded victory to the Japanese boxer.
Abdulhamidov had been given a 22-17 victory despite being floored six times in the final round and penalised two points. The furious Japanese team immediately announced their intention to appeal the decision.
After reviewing the bout, the result of which was greeted with loud booing by the ExCeL crowd, the competition jury overturned the result, saying in a statement: “The boxer from Azerbaijan fell down six times during the final round.
“According to our rules, the referee should have counted at least three times. Following the AIBA Technical and Competition rules, the decision should have been RSC (Referee Stop Contest).”
Shimizu had reacted with astonishment to the verdict, saying: “I am so shocked about the result. I don’t understand how I didn’t win. I don’t understand why the judges went against me. He fell down and the referee gave him almost 10 seconds to recover, which is not fair.”
In December last year, an AIBA-appointed investigation committee dismissed allegations that Azerbaijan was promised two boxing gold medals the London Olympics in exchange for an €8-million loan to the sport's ruling body.
In a statement released at the time, the Special Investigation Committee (SIC) said the report aired on the BBC's Newsnight programme was "groundless and unsupported by any credible evidence".
Olympic judges and referees have come under increasing scrutiny with another fighter accusing them of "a fix",
and even boxing great Lennox Lewis questioning some of their calls. Iran's Ali Mazaheri cried foul when the heavyweight was disqualified after being warned three times for persistent holding against Cuban Jose Larduet Gomez despite leading by two points going into the second round.
"It was a fix. I could have got a bronze easily if it hadn't been for that," an irate Mazaheri, who walked out of the ring before the decision was officially announced, told reporters through a translator. "In my previous fights I had done really well. It was a set up."
Before sitting down to commentate on the session for British radio, former world heavyweight champion Lewis said he was impressed by the talent on show but had concerns about the judging.
"What I'm concerned about is probably the judging. You never know who is going to win until the end of the fight," said Britain's Lewis, a dual citizen who won gold for Canada in 1988.