Boxing judges face criticism over scoring

Sydney: Algerian head coach Rabah Hamadache railed at the Olympic boxing judges on Monday after his middleweight Abdelhani Kinzi lost out to a Romanian in a fight that drew whistles from the crowd.

''Everyone is against us, against Africa,'' he said after Kinzi's 19-9 defeat to Adrian Diaconu.

Kinzi, bloodied but raising his fist in triumph at the end of the first round fight, clearly thought he had won after the final bell and shook his head in disbelief at the score.

''Even the crowd whistled the decision. They recognised the difference between the winner and loser,'' said Hamadache.

Loring Baker, the general secretary of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) said he had not followed the fight closely enough to comment on it while other experienced observers felt the Romanian had indeed won.

Hamadache's comments nonetheless provided a ripple of controversy about the judging in a competition that has otherwise been strangely calm with little real disagreement about the scores.

Dominican middleweight Jerson Ravelo, who lost out later to Australian Paul Miller 8-7, felt he too had been harshly treated by the computerised scoring.

''It was a bad decision,'' he said, after leading miller 7-3 after the second round and then failing to score.

''I landed more than two points in the last round,'' said Ravelo, adding that he was convinced some of his punches were scored to his opponent instead of himself.

Miller said merely, ''It wasn't a good performance but I'm proud to represent my country at the Olympics."

The judging at the tournament in Sydney is under close scrutiny after past controversies, including Cuba's walkout from last year's world championships in protest at the scoring and allegations about fixed bouts in the past.



(c) Reuters Limited.