Sarita Devi will be heavily punished, says AIBA President

Sarita Devi might face a long ban after her refusal to accept a bronze medal for her performance at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea; said CK Wu, the President of the sport's governing body AIBA.

In a telephonic interview from South Korea, ahead of the AIBA congress, Wu said "She will be heavily punished, there will be zero tolerance. It was totally unacceptable behaviour for any competition in any sport; I think her boxing career is finished. Every athlete should fully respect the decisions of referees and judges. So this boxer is facing very severe punishment. She has damaged her own country, India has been damaged," reported NDTV Sports.

He added, "If you accept being the winner, you have to accept being the loser. If everyone behaved like that, what type of competition will we have?" AIBA will be announcing its decision regarding the duration of the ban soon but after Wu’s comment, it’s safe to say, the results may not be desirable.

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Devi’s career hit a road block this year at the Asian Games in Incheon, when she refused to accept a bronze medal and slipped it to her opponent at the awards ceremony. In her opinion, she should have won the semi-final against South Korean boxer, Park Ji-Na. Even after her acceptance of the medal, the AIBA had suspended the boxer and her whole coaching team for an indefinite period of time.

According to Wu, the new scoring system may have been the reason why Sarita Devi did not understand the reason for her defeat. During the match, she had knocked out Park multiple times during the fight and so later broke down at the awards ceremony when she wasn’t declared the winner.