|
Government mulls Games complaint
‘SLANDER AND DEFAMATION’:Vice Premier Sean Chen said the
government is ready to file a complaint on the matter with the Lausanne-based
Court of Arbitration for Sport
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Mo Yan-chih / Staff
reporters, with agencies
Sports Affairs Council Deputy Minster Chen
Shi-kui, left, and an official look at footage of Yang Shu-chun’s socks during
her taekwondo 49kg bout at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, during a
news conference in Taipei yesterday. The footage shows the sensors being taken
off before the game.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In what many Taiwanese considered a belated action, the government yesterday
held an international press conference voicing its support for Taiwanese
taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君), who was controversially kicked out of the
Asian Games in China on Wednesday, and called for a probe into the incident to
ensure fair treatment for Taiwanese athletes.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has been criticized for not
standing up for Yang in the immediate aftermath of the row on Wednesday in which
Yang, one of the nation’s gold medal hopefuls at the Games, had almost defeated
Vietnam’s Vu Thi Hau in a women’s under-49kg bout when she was disqualified with
12 seconds left in the first round.
Yang was told by the judge that she was disqualified because two extra sensors
on the heels of her foot guards were against regulations. Despite protests from
the Taiwanese delegation, who insisted the sensors were carefully checked and
approved before her match, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) remained adamant
that its ruling was correct, suggesting that Yang had cheated and that she and
her coach would face further sanctions for staging a sit-in protest following
the judge’s ruling.
GRAPHIC: TT
At the press conference held in Taipei yesterday, Vice
Premier Sean Chen said that a press statement posted on the Asian Taekwondo
Union’s (ATU) Web site titled “Shocking Act of Deception by Chinese Taipei” was
“not only a slander to the reputation of the athlete herself [Yang],” but also
“defamation of the whole country and its nationals.”
A videotape of the match on Wednesday recorded by Video-Land Inc showed Yang
remove the sensors in question before the bout began and that she did not have
them on during the bout. It also showed that after Yang was called over for an
inspection with 12 seconds left in the first round of her bout, a taekwondo
referee went to the other side of the mat to pick up the two sensors that had
been previously discarded and brought them back to the head referee, who made
the decision to disqualify Yang.
“The facts speak for themselves. It’s very clear that Yang did not have the two
sensors attached to the heels of her socks during the match,” Chen said. “The
accusation made by the ATU against Yang are far from the facts.”
Chen said the disqualification was a “hasty decision” and the words the ATU
chose to use in its accusation against Yang and the Taiwanese team were
“irrational” and “not those that should be used on the official Web site of an
international organization” such as the ATU.
He also accused the ATU of purposely misleading the public by suggesting that
the Taiwanese team had a chance to explain its side of story when the WTF held a
technical meeting to review the ruling by displaying on its Web site a photo of
the meeting that included Chen Chien-ping (陳建平), chairman of the Chinese Taipei
Taekwondo Association.
“I made a call to Chen Chien-ping. He told me that he did not attend the
technical meeting, but was called in to be informed of its decision,” Sean Chen
said.
Sean Chen said the government is prepared to file a complaint on the matter with
the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), should Yang and the
nation’s taekwondo association give their consent.
Sean Chen disagreed with reporters when facing questions about the government’s
weak reaction to the incident and slow response in holding a press conference to
state its official stance on the matter.
He said the Taiwanese delegation respected and followed established procedures
in international competitions by filing a protest over the unfair ruling and
waiting for arbitration.
“We initially thought the arbitration would have been made on the basis of the
facts, but regrettably it was not. That’s why the government has made clear our
solemn and firm position on the case after the arbitration process had been
completed,” he said.
During the press conference, which lasted about 40 minutes, Sean Chen and Sports
Affairs Council Deputy Minister Steven Chen (陳士魁) initially offered a softer
stance. Sean Chen did not say the ATU should apologize over the incident until
he was pressed by several reporters questioning the government’s bland response
compared with the ATU’s accusation against Yang and Taiwan.
Late last night, the Executive Yuan followed up with a press statement,
demanding that the ATU admit its mistake, offer an apology, give an explanation
for the unfair ruling and offer reasonable compensation to Yang.
In the statement, the Executive Yuan questioned the fairness of the ruling as
the ATU had changed its account over the past few days on the reason why Yang
was disqualified.
“The discrepancies and inconsistencies in its different accounts prove that the
ATU has been making up fallacious reasons in defense of its ruling,” the press
release said.
Steven Chen said the ATU had agreed to reopen its investigation of the incident.
While the government will also ask the Olympic Council of Asia to look into the
case, the Executive Yuan added it had also sent Minister Without Portfolio Ovid
Tseng (曾志朗) to Guangzhou to look after Yang’s case.
Meanwhile, after staying mum for the past two days, the president yesterday
broke his silence, pledging to fight for justice for Yang and demanding that the
organizers offer a reasonable explanation after a thorough investigation of the
incident.
“The fight will not stop until the organizers offer a legal and reasonable
explanation. Until the truth comes out, we will not accept any accusations
against the team. We oppose these accusations,” Ma said on the sidelines of a
photo exhibition at the Huashan Creative Park.
“Yang spent over a year practicing for the contest and trained herself to be a
great athlete. She passed all the inspections, but was disqualified. It is
unacceptable for all of us,” he said.
Earlier yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus accused the
government of being weak in its handling of the incident.
DPP Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) alleged the incident was a scheme by China to
remove Yang from the competition so that its team could bag the gold medal.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union accused the government of attempting to downgrade
the Yang incident from “an insult to the country” to “unfair treatment of an
athlete.” It demanded that the government stop prolonging the matter by laying
out a timetable for filing arbitration on the matter.
|
