GUANGZHOU, China – In the first major judging controversy of the Asian Games, Yang Shu-chun of Taiwan was disqualified from the taekwondo competition Wednesday for using an illegal sensor on the heel of her shoes.
Yang Jin-suk, secretary general of the World Taekwondo Federation, told a media conference that officials noticed in a pre-match inspection that the 2008 Beijing Olympic competitor appeared to have one extra sensor on the heel of each shoe.
The judges told her not to use them in the under-49 kilogram division match, then disqualified her with 12 seconds left in the first round because they noticed she still had them on her shoes. Philippine referee Stephen Fernandez then stopped the fight.
The 25-year-old Taiwanese competitor was leading Thi Hau Vu of Vietnam 9-0, but Vu advanced to the quarterfinals.
The decision, which the secretary-general said was confirmed by a five-member games technical committee, left Yang Shu-chun and her coach in tears, and unwilling to leave the competition area.
"She was very well-known in the circuit. Why even bother to do anything like that?" the WTF secretary-general told The Associated Press.
"The fact of the matter is while she was out there competing, the sensors were discovered. That relates to the question of did she get that many points because of the sensors?"
Tai Hsia-ling, the minister of Taiwan's Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council who was in Guangzhou, disagreed with the situation.
"This is a very, very unfair statement," Tai said. "We will protest strongly again. We are very upset that he (the WTF) made a statement like that before the results of the investigation are out. It is very unfair to our athletes."
Taiwanese taekwondo competitor Huang Hsien-yung later went on to win gold in the under-46 class, and said she used her teammate's disqualification to motivate her.
"When I first found out, I thought 'how could that be?'" Huang said. "But I turned my grief into motivation."
Yang Jin-suk's announcement at Guangdong Stadium, venue of the taekwondo competition, was met with boos and chants from some of the Taiwanese media attending the event.
Yang Shu-chun, who was not immediately for comment, also competed at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
Upon coming across this article, I have some mixed feelings. In the article, the judges did tell her not to use the illegal sensor on the heel of her shoes. However, she did not follow the instruction, thus, she was disqualified in the first round. The judges did warn her, but she chose not to listen. Therefore, it was her fault.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with what the World Taekwondo Federation(WTF) secretary general said. She was very well-known in the circuit. Being a national sports representative, you should follow all the rules and regulations of the sports and competition. If she was good enough to be able to represent her country, she should also know the rules and regulations very well! Therefore, she should not be excuse for making such a mistake.
On the other hand, I also agree with the minister of Taiwan's Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council. They should also investigate about the truth of the points. Having a 9-0 score could not possibly been cause by the sensor. It would have been obvious to the referee. Therefore, I feel that they should also investigate into this matter.
In conclusion, I feel that she should be more careful and follow the rules and regulations of the competition as this is not her first time in a competition. Secondly, the WTF should also investigate about the scores and give her a proper explanation.
After reading this article, I feel that there is a mistake in Taiwanese competitor, Yang Shu Chun’s disqualification by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) officials.
ReplyDeleteThe Taiwanese athlete had her sensor gear double checked by judgement and officials. She did wear the old electronic foot guards but have made adjustments and remove the extra sensors before the game started. So she passed the pre-match inspection and was allowed to compete.
She was only disqualified later, after she was leading against her opponents 9-0 and with 12 seconds left. Thus I found this very suspicious and unfair. If there were any problems with the gears, why did the officials only disqualified her mid-game when all the equipments have been inspected? Once she passed the pre-match check, that means she had the qualifications to compete.
Not only that, the WTF secretary-general also accused Yang of cheating before even the investigations results are out. Yang actually scored 6 points with upper attack in the video and that is manually counted by judges. So she could not have taken advantage from the sensors.
To conclude, I think more investigations needs to be done to come out with the fairest solution. In future, WTF should watch over their members closely and not let them made such rude accusations. At the same time, Yang should also not wear controversial gears and equipments in time to come.
It is not a shocking news that Yang Shu Chun is disqualified in this competition. By doing something that is against the rule, the judges do have the right to disqualified you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, since she have something which her opponent did not which is the sensors, the judges have all right to suspect that the sensors could be her way of getting points easily. Hence i do not feel sorry for her as i feel that the judge is right.
By competing in so many past competition, she should already know clearly what the rule are and what consequences she will get if she broke them. Furthermore, she already had a warning from the judge not to use the sensors. If she continue to use them, I do not see why there is a reason to not disqualify her.
In conclusion, I feel that in this case, the judges treat everyone fairly as she did break the rule, she should be treated equally and be disqualify despite her being the top few players.
In my point of view, there are two sides to this article. I think that Yang may be guilty of the offence and she could not be guilty of it.
ReplyDeleteAll games have to be played fairly. In my point of view, since Yang Shu-chun of Taiwan was found using an illegal sensor on the heel of her shoes, I agree that the judges did the right thing in disqualifying her. After all, she was aware at that point of time that it is illegal to and an extra sensor and the judges even when they told her not to use it. In this case, I think she has herself to blame for not listening to the judges.
However, there is a question to this article? Why didn’t the judges asked her to remove the sensor immediately when they found out that she still had the extra sensor on? Why did they stop her only after she was leading Thi Hau Vu of Vietnam 9-0? Was it done deliberately? If that is the case, I feel that Yang is not totally at fault here.
I feel that both parties – Yang and the judges especially Yang should have a chance to explain herself because it is unfair for us to make any judgment before investigation are out. It may turn out to be just a misunderstanding and that she really did not use the extra sensor to win Thi Hau Vu. To end, I would like to say that to win in glory is to play fairly.
Rebecca
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article, I feel that Yang shu-chun is at fault as in the first place she shouldn't have place an extra sensor in her shoe. Furthermore, the authorities had already warned her about it and she should have it removed. The statement about her gaining 9-0 remained unknown because with the benefit of doubt we never know if she really got the score because of the extra sensor. So it is not wrong to say that.
Although she may not really have the intention at all,others may doubt so. However the federation should not have accused her of that before the investigation results are out as it may hurt the feeling of Yang if she is really innocent.
Nonetheless, it's relieving to hear that the teammate of the taiwanese to be motivated to work hard to win glory back for the country. As I believe sports games are supposed to be played fairly and may the fittest win. The sportmans should display great sportsmanship as without it the purpose of the sports is no longer there. Win with ones own capabilities is far more achieving than winning through underhands means. I hope that the investigation will quickly come to light soon.
I totally agree with what Ernest has said. Yang Shu Chun deserved the disqualification, as she was given a warning and chance to take off the sensor. But despite the warning, she continue to wear the sensor and disqualified. Rules and regulation should be followed that is why it has been set, if not why is it there for?
ReplyDeletePeople like her should have known the rules clearer than anyone else. So why did she still do it? Isn't it telling others that she has an attempt to cheat even though she is good at Taekwondo?