The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said it was not impressed by her behaviour at the medal ceremony but decided to let her off with a warning after she issued an unconditional apology and the Indian delegation assured the OCA it had not planned the incident.
‘We decided to give this athlete a strong warning,’ OCA honorary life vice-president Wei Jizhong told a news conference on Saturday. ‘We considered this had nothing to do with the Indian delegation. This is just a personal misbehaviour of the athlete.’ Sarita was furious after losing her lightweight semifinal bout with South Korea’s Park Ji-na on Tuesday, believing she should have been declared the winner.
Her husband launched an expletive-laden tirade at the judges and Sarita lodged a protest against the decision but it was rejected, triggering cries of foul play from the Indian team.The following day, she refused to wear the bronze medal when it was presented to her, taking it only in her hand before trying to drape it over Park.
‘We decided to give this athlete a strong warning,’ OCA honorary life vice-president Wei Jizhong told a news conference on Saturday. ‘We considered this had nothing to do with the Indian delegation. This is just a personal misbehaviour of the athlete.’ Sarita was furious after losing her lightweight semifinal bout with South Korea’s Park Ji-na on Tuesday, believing she should have been declared the winner.
Her husband launched an expletive-laden tirade at the judges and Sarita lodged a protest against the decision but it was rejected, triggering cries of foul play from the Indian team.The following day, she refused to wear the bronze medal when it was presented to her, taking it only in her hand before trying to drape it over Park.