New Delhi, Oct 22: International Boxing Association (AIBA) has provisionally suspended Indian boxer L Sarita Devi from competitions for rejecting her Asian Games bronze medal at the podium following her controversial semi-final loss at Incheon.
The amateur boxing world governing body announced on Wednesday it was also barring coaches Gurbaksh Sandhu, Sagar Dhayal and Blax Iglesias Fernandes, and India's chef de mission Adile Sumariwala from its events until further notice. That includes the women's world championships at Jeju, South Korea, later in the year.
"The AIBA also provisionally suspended Sarita's coaches (Messrs Gurbakhsh Singh Sandhu, Blas Iglesias Fernandez and Sagar Mal Dhayal) as well as Indian chef-de-mission in the Incheon Asiad, Adille J Sumariwalla and will not allow any of them to participate at all levels of competitions, events and meetings until further notice," a statement by the international body said.
The disciplinary case against Devi, who protested against the scoring in her semi-final bout on October 1 with a South Korean boxer, commenced within hours of the medal ceremony in the women's 60-kilogram class.
Devi had refused to bend down to let the bronze medal be placed over her neck. She took the medal in hand, went across and slipped it onto the neck of Park Ji-na, who had been declared winner of the semis. The South Korean boxer tried to give it back, then left it on the podium.
The protest prompted AIBA technical delegate David Francis to say it "looked like a well-planned scenario by her and her team".
Devi had said after the tear-filled podium protest that she was "ready to face any repercussions" if it helped boxing in the long run. But the next day, she issued an "unconditional apology" for her "emotional outburst".
Even though the AIBA had taken note of the boxer's written apology, the international body's decision to suspend the boxer and the national coaches came as a surprise to many.
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