South Korea’s Shin A Lam sits on the field at the end of her Women’s Epee semifinal bout against Germany’s Britta Heidemann as part of the fencing event of London 2012 Olympic games, at the ExCel centre in London. South Korea protested after Shin A Lam’s controversial defeat by Germany’s Britta Heidemann in the Olympic women’s fencing epee semi-finals.
LONDON - South Korea fencer Shin A-Lam staged a dramatic sit-down protest for more than an hour after losing a controversial Olympic Games semi-final on Monday.
A tearful Shin refused to leave the piste after her 6-5 defeat to Germany’s Britta Heidemann as her coach continued to object to the result.
The two fencers had been locked at 5-5 inside the extra minute period. The German then scored what she thought was the winning hit, but the Korean coach claimed the assault came after the final second was up.
That sparked angry scenes while judges deliberated over how to resolve the contest.
After more than 20 minutes of talks, victory was awarded to Heidemann and Shin collapsed onto the floor in tears as her coach stormed off.
But it then emerged that in order to lodge an official protest, a sum of money had to be deposited with the judging commission and once the cash had been found, the arguments continued inside the arena.
Shin remained sitting on the piste, a full hour after the contest had finished. She was eventually persuaded to leave and embraced her coach before departing the arena.
0 Comments