Olympics: India to protest AIBA's decision on Vikas

LONDON, ENGLAND: Vikas Krishan of India (L) in action with Errol Spence of United States during the Men’s 69-kg bout at the London Olympics.

London - Indian contingent at the London Olympics will protest the decision of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) to overturn the result of the men’s 69-kg bout between Vikas Krishan and American Errol Spence.

Hours after Vikas was declared the winner of the bout 13-11, the competition jury of AIBA ruled on an American protest Friday night that Vikas committed nine holding fouls in the third and last round alone and also that the Indian had intentionally spit out his mouth guard in the second round.

The mouthpiece incident, AIBA felt, invites a deduction of four points and that meant the 13-11 decision in Vikas’s favour went for a toss and the American was through to the quarter-finals.

“We are looking at the video recording of the bout. In our opinion, fouls were committed by the American opponent as well, he too should have been penalised,” Indian Chef-de-Mission P.K. Muralidharan Raja was quoted as saying by CNN-IBN.

“The matter is sub judice, we are preparing our reply. We want to bring to the notice of the jury the fouls committed by the American fighter. The team manager will hand over the protest officially,” he said.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) too voiced its concerns and vice-president Tarlochan Singh dubbed the decision “wrong”.