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#Post#: 410--------------------------------------------------
Fixed Match Led to Suicide
By: Ladytkd Date: September 15, 2014, 4:41 pm
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HTML http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2994882
HTML http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2994882
Taekwondo match that led to suicide was fixed
Sept 16,2014
During the 94th National Sports Festival in May 2013, two
12th-grade students faced off in a taekwondo match that would
ultimately determine the winning representative for Seoul among
high school athletes.
In the first half of the three-round match, held at the World
Taekwondo Headquarters in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, a
young fighter surnamed Jeon was leading 5-1 against his
opponent, a boy named Choi.
But in the third round, the referee suddenly began to bombard
Jeon with warnings, and the 12th grader received seven within 50
seconds. Those warnings, on top of another he had been handed in
the first match, caused him to lose the fight.
In taekwondo matches, when a contestant receives two warnings,
one point is afforded to the opponent. And a fighter who
receives four points from warnings dealt to his competitor is
automatically declared the winner.
Jeon’s father strongly complained following the match, claiming
the referee had made biased judgments, though his arguments were
eventually dismissed.
More shocking than the match, however, was that later that
month, the boy’s father committed suicide, locking himself in
his car and lighting a charcoal briquette.
“My son lost the match because of those warnings and he now
wants to quit taekwondo,” the man’s suicide note read. “I cannot
sleep and I don’t want to eat .?.?. and now I am exhausted in
the end.”
His abrupt death prompted the Seoul Taekwondo Association to
carry out an investigation, in which it concluded that the
47-year-old referee had made wrong calls, though he was never
questioned about any attempt to rig the fight.
Now, more than a year since the controversy, authorities
announced yesterday that new information led them to discover
that the match had been systemically fixed by the father of
Jeon’s opponent, as well as Seoul Taekwondo Association
officials.
“We are investigating six people related to the match, including
the executive director of the association, surnamed Kim, 45, who
is believed to have directed the referee to manipulate the
match,” Kim Do-sang, a police official, said yesterday.
According to authorities, Choi’s father met with a middle school
taekwondo referee surnamed Song several days before the match to
ask for a favor. Song is alleged to have then talked with Kim,
who is suspected to have asked the judges of the tournament to
manipulate the match. The police believe that the 47-year-old
referee had been instructed earlier in the day to give warnings
to Jeon and added that he had confessed that some of the
admonitions were unwarranted.
Choi’s father also admitted to his role in the incident and
reportedly stated that match manipulation has become
commonplace.
BY KANG KI-HEON[bongmoon@joongang.co.kr]
#Post#: 411--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fixed Match Led to Suicide
By: Gorilla Date: September 15, 2014, 11:30 pm
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That is taking it to far!
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