Thai boxing manager General Taweep Jantararoj has questioned the neutrality of the Beijing Games boxing judges and a particular referee, claiming three unnamed individuals have attempted to manipulate the matches against Thai boxers.

General Taweep Jantararoj, president of the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand (ABAT), said he questioned the neutrality of the judges of the light flyweight quarterfinal match of Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng and Mongolia’s Serdamba Pirevdorj on August 19.

The ABAT chief said he at first believed the management under the leadership of International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) President Wu Ching-Kuo would be able to increase the transparency of the scoring system until he found some “anomalies” with the scoring of matches with Thai boxers including the light flyweight quarterfinal where the judges did not give scores for Amnat’s visible hits on Pirevdorj.

The general said he requested the AIBA to allow the boxing managers to approve the selection of the judges beforehand, but Wu, who insisted the current system was transparent, declined and suggested that such practice could lead to lobbying.

General Taweep said he was suspicious of a certain French referee who always gave a score penalty to the Thai boxer in each of the three matches he presided. The three boxers penalized by the referee included Amnat, Angkhan Chomphuphuang, and Non Boonjumnong. General Taweep said the person was the same referee who penalized Angkhan twice in a President Cup match in Taiwan.

He said the penalties of the referee disrupted the strategies of the Thai boxers than contributed to the losses, especially for Amnat’s match.

The ABAT president said he has been warned by an anonymous individual twice, during the Asian Games at Doha and the current Olympic Games, that a certain group of individuals who have “significant roles in the boxing industry” and have close relationships with the AIBA president would attempt to “do whatever it took to prevent the Thai boxers from winning a medal” in order to discredit ABAT and replace its leadership.

General Taweep said although he did not believe the warning at first, he found that Thai boxer Worapoj Petchkoom was lost to a Filipino opponent whom he considered as having significantly inferior skills in the Doha Games. The Filipino fighter later lost to Worapoj in two other events and did not qualify for the Beijing Games.

The general said he did not want to be a soar loser but wanted to warn the conspirers and announced that he would do anything to fight back and to support the Thai athletes to reach their goals.

General Taweep said the incidents were manipulated by three individuals, one of whom is currently in Thailand, another has been in China for a while, and the third has recently traveled from Thailand to China.

The general refused to name the individuals as he feared legal actions but he said he wanted to individuals to realize that they were being watched by the society.

Athens Games gold medalist Boxer Manus Boonjumnong, who will fight Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo in the light welterweight semifinal on August 22, said the Cuban fighter is a new comer but has good foundations and cannot be underestimated.

The Thai boxer said he was not afraid of his opponent as he is better-experienced and has already survived the more formidable Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan. The confident Manus said he would employ the same tactic to maintain distance from the Cuban boxer to win the fight and secure a spot for the final to eventually claim his second gold medal.      

News: Daily