Can understand L Sarita Devi's emotions: Olympic Council of Asia

INCHEON: After reinstating L Sarita Devi's medal following an apology from her and the IOA, the Olympic Council of Asia today said the boxer's disappointment on losing a controversial Asiad semifinal was understandable but her emotional outburst at the presentation ceremony was uncalled for.

"The main objective of the OCA in staging the Asian Games is to provide a fair platform for the athletes to showcase their skills. Sometimes technical errors do happen in sports. Boxing has had plenty of issues with officiating and the new rules were set to weed out errors," OCA president Sheikh Al-Fahad Al-Sabah said at the final media briefing of the Games today.

"I can understand her emotions from losing the match. Everyone remembers Seoul 1986 when a boxer broke out into tears (after being denied a win).

"(But) As an athlete she needs to understand there are other athletes on the podium. They too have fought hard to be there. You cannot kill their moment. There is always a medium to issue your protest and it could have done that way. I'm happy that she has apologised and we can put an end to this problem."

Sarita lost the lightweight semifinal to South Korea's Jina Park despite dominating the bout. Her protest against the decision was rejected and the disconsolate boxer refused to accept the bronze at the medal ceremony.

"OCA received an apology letter from the chef de mission. We also received a letter from the national Olympic committee. OCA then decided to give the athletes a strong warning. We understood that the country as a whole is not at fault for the misconduct of an athlete," said OCA's life vice president Wei Jhizhong said.