Sufuyan Ojeifo
26 August 2008
Abuja — Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Uche Chukwumerije has petitioned the President of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), protesting against poor officiating in the semi final contest in men's 80kg category between Nigeria and Greece at the just concluded Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
The Nigerian player whom he said was short-changed in the contest that would have seen him through to final of the tournament in that category was his son, Chika.
He said he was raising the protest as "a member of the Taekwondo family, a senior black belt, a promoter of Taekwondo in Nigeria and the father of the short-changed player in this disputed contest, Chika Chukwumerije."
He stated "the officiating was so flawed that the victor was robbed of victory and the defeated awarded an unmerited victory."
Chukwumerije cited four grounds of his protest, which he claimed would have given the Nigerian victory if the referee had not denied him the deserved points and given points not scored to Alexandro Nicholaidias of Greece.
In the letter dated August 25, 2008, Chukwumerije said that the Taekwondo Supervisory Board turned deaf ears to the initial protest filed in Beijing.
According to him, "In accordance with the rules, Chika's coach and the Nigerian Taekwondo leadership filed a protest to the Taekwondo Supervisory Board against the poor officiating.
"To underline the seriousness of Nigeria's concern for the stultifying effect of this level of refereeing on the future of Taekwondo, the top management of Nigeria's Olympic Sports Organization (comprising Chief Engineer Gumel, Chairman of Nigeria Olympic Committee; Banji Oladapo, Secretary-General of the Committee, Alhaji Bappa, the Assistant Secretary-General, Patrick Ekeji, the Director of Sports Development in Nigeria, Nathaniel Nnaji, Vice Chairman Nigeria Taekwondo Federation and my humble self) met the Chairman of Africa Taekwondo Union, General Fouli of Egypt, and re-emphasised our protest.
"We were told that the protest would be considered and a review was underway. The next shock which hit us was a display on the television screen announcing a tournament for a third position and listing Chika Chukwumerije as a contestant.
"This meant that our protest received merely a nominal nod, but was never treated, unlike the protest by Britain in an earlier bout."
Chukwumerije observed that, "By fair officiating, this tournament should have ended 3-0 in favour of Chika Chukwumerije. The calculation is thus:- the three points given to Alexandro were unmerited gifts and therefore a nullity.
"On the other hand, Chika's three (3) points -- that is, the two (2) points acknowledged by the referees and the one (1) point denied by referees -- were clearly earned."
He added, "An unprecedented number of stoppages of the fight for consultations among the referees took place in this tournament," pointing out "on three occasions, the referees stopped the fight and consulted among themselves, thereby giving a strong impression that they were unsure of their readings of the contest."
He said the implications of such a poor officiating were grim, pointing out, "Like other Taekwondo countries, Nigeria is bound to be demoralized. Nigeria's only protection and assurance in the sport of Taekwondo, is the hope that Taekwondo convention offers a level playing ground in competitions. This hope has now been severely undermined."
Chukwumerije added, "Two, the international image of Taekwondo may be soiled and its standing in the comity of world sports lowered by a growing impression of subjective and unpredictable commitment of our referees to the rules of the game."
"Three, the insensitivity of the Taekwondo Supervisory Board to genuine protests against provable acts of poor officiating in accordance with the rules encourages anti-compliance behaviour among practitioners."
He tasked the President to compare the responses of the Supervisory Board to two protests -- Britain 's and Nigeria's, stressing, "In an earlier bout (Women's Under 57kg Quarter Finals), the British coach angrily shot up from his seat like thunder bolt and protested in a loud voice against a case of poor officiating. He aggressively followed up after the contest with a strong protest to the Board.
"The Supervisory Board reviewed the case, played back the tape in full view of the audience, and reversed the verdict of the judges. In Nigeria's case, the Nigerian coach quietly waited like a law-abiding practitioner till the end of the bout to make his protest.
"Nigeria avoided violence of fist or body language. The Supervisory Board ignored our appeal: the review of the disputed contest did not take place."
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