I am sorry, won't do it again: L Sarita Devi to International Boxing Association

NEW DELHI: A remorseful L Sarita Devi has pleaded with the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to lift the provisional suspension imposed on her for refusing to accept her bronze medal in the Asiad, saying that she deeply regrets her outburst on the podium and would never repeat it.

Sarita's participation in the World Championships next month has been jeopardised due to the suspension imposed on her for refusing to accept the medal after a controversial semifinal loss in the Asian Games at Incheon.

"I do accept that the incidents should not have happened and I deeply regret the incidents with a pledge that this will never happen again," the former world and Asian champion has written in her reply to AIBA's notice.

"Realising my mistakes, I had immediately tendered an apology letter to Olympic Council of Asia ( OCA) and the Organising Committee of the Asian Games 2014 and accepted the bronze medal," she said.

Sarita said her impeccable disciplinary record before the Asiad furore should be taken into account when her fate is decided by the AIBA's disciplinary committee.

"In my 14-year long career, I had never been involved in any act of indiscipline or misconduct both in the national and international arena. Being one of the pioneers of amateur women boxer in the world who participated in the first World Women Boxing Championship in the USA in 2001, I would like to plea to your good office to consider my case and pardon me for the incidents in Incheon Asian Games, 2014," she said.

Sarita also insisted that her actions on the podium were not planned and neither were they instigated by her husband or the three ringside coaches, who have also been suspended by AIBA.