Local favorite Park Ji-na was declared a unanimous 3-0 winner of
Tuesday's contest, surprising many in India, who felt Sarita had
comprehensibly dominated the bout and should have advanced to the
final in Incheon.
As soon as the result was announced, Sarita's husband Thoiba Singh
launched an expletive-laden tirade at the judges, the Indian Express
newspaper reported on Wednesday, referring to the verdict as a
"Crying Shame".
Sarita lodged a protest against the outcome, which was rejected on
the grounds that a boxer cannot challenge decisions.
"We will accept the medal (bronze) at the ceremony but are planning
to return it as a mark of protest," Singh told the newspaper.
At Wednesday's medal presentation, Devi broke down in tears and
refused to wear the bronze medal she was presented with.
The daily also criticized Indian officials at Incheon for not
helping Sarita who, it said, had to borrow $500 to lodge her
protest.
Several dailies featured a crying Sarita on the front page with Mail
Today lamenting how she had been "robbed in the ring" by "biased"
judges.
"The fact that all the three judges gave it to the Korean clearly
shows the result of the bout was decided before the start," India's
Cuban coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez told the Times of India
newspaper.
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"You can understand if such a thing happens in a close bout but this
was totally one-sided and this is a poor advertisement for boxing.
"In fact, the Korean coach is a good friend of mine and he came and
said sorry," Fernandez said.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty; Editing by John O'Brien)
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