Loopholes

The Southeast Asian Games is an illustration of how partisanship ruins the essence of sportsmanship and fair play. Over the years, we have seen an endlessly creative stream of ways that the rules are manipulated and interpreted to suit the host country. This is so clear in the final overall medal tally, where Myanmar, not a known powerhouse in sports, finished second to Thailand.

This was nowhere more evident in boxing, where the Philippines was clearly cheated out of no less than two gold medals. The worse of the instances was when welterweight Wilfredo Lopez was denied a gold medal in favor of his opponent, Wai Lin Aung, the only boxer from the host country to make it to the finals.

“Not to disparage the Myanmar fighter, but when we saw who Lopez would be fighting, we knew it was a sure gold,” explained ABAP executive director Ed Picson. “We haven’t seen them in any international competition. Our talent level is really higher. To get better, you have to compete abroad. That’s where you learn, and where you measure yourself against the best.”

Previously, featherweight Nesthy Petecio was all set to claim a second gold for the women’s team against Myanmar’s New Ni. As predicted, the veteran toyed with the hometown girl, and was simply technically better. New Ni could hardly score.

“We saw how Nesthy was really so much better, and was scoring practically at will,” Picson recalled. “Then when the score came out, it was the other way around.”

One of the problems in amateur boxing is how ever-changing the rules are. The way Picson explains it, they are constantly in a fluid state. And the judging cannot be questioned, only the actuations of the referee. For example, for the SEA Games, five judges from neutral countries are selected minutes before each bout. This is the first measure against biased officiating. And not all of the judges’ scores will count, either. A computer supposedly selects which of the scores will determine the winning boxer. It all sounds like a lottery, and it is.

Given this scenario, it begs the question: if Petecio and Lopez were both clearly dominant, how could a majority of the judges even score in favor of their opponents? Considering also that the rules are less complicated because of the evolution towards more pro rules, how could they get confused? The judges employed by AIBA obviously have completed several qualifications. They can’t simply be in error. Clearly, something is amiss.

Boxers no longer wear headgear, so you can’t mistake one boxer for another, and their uniforms are different colors, anyway. The gloves no longer have the white target areas, so there is more room for our fighter to score. Third, our boxers are definitely more competent in pro style fighting than their Myanmar counterparts. Fourth, they compete in several international competitions every year, so they are very well-versed in the rules.

In the case of Lopez in particular, there was a deliberate misinterpretation of the rules. To recall the events, Lopez was making mincemeat of his plodding, less talented opponent, both in volume and quality of punches. Towards the end of the second round, a very small cut was opened over his eye, most likely by a headbutt, with five seconds to go in the round, the referee called timeout and brought Lopez to the ring physician, who promptly stopped the fight. This is where it gets weird.

The Philippine camp, Lopez in particular, started to celebrate. The rules state that the winner of a stoppage of this nature is determined by the judges’ scores up to that point in the bout. But the referee took matters into his own hands, immediately announcing that Wai had won, not Lopez. In fact, Lopez only heard it the second time it was announced.

“The referee ruled it was a TKO in favor of the other fighter,” said Picson. “I approached the ring doctor, who is an old friend. He said he was protecting our boxer.”

This triggered a bitter exchange between the two, which continues online to this day. This incident clearly shows the need for reform, or at least a uniform implementation of the rules. With the 17th Asian Games in Incheon coming in September, we have to know how the rules of the game are going to be read, or we’ll just end up getting shafted again.

A blessed New Year to all the readers of The STAR. Cheers!