Thai Coach is Very Upset Over Sailom Ardee's Defeat

LONDON : Coach Thong Thaweekhun suffered a double blow at the Olympics on Sunday _ his boxer Sailom Ardee was controversially defeated and he himself lost 50 for protesting the result after the deadline to do so had passed.

In their opening bout in the 60kg class, Sailom lost to Gani Zhailauov of Kazakhstan on a count-back after a 12-12 draw.

But Thong believed Sailom had won and filed a formal protest with the organisers.

Under amateur boxing rules, an official who files a formal protest has to pay a 300 deposit.

But his protest was rejected as the organizers claimed he submitted the paperwork later than 30 minutes after the bout. He was charged 50 as a "handling fee".

"To be honest, I submitted the protest within 30 minutes of the result being announced," he said.

"They received my documents and came back to me one hour later to tell me that it was too late to protest.

"There might be something wrong. I said before coming here that judging was still a big problem in boxing and Sailom's controversial loss proves my remarks were right."

Thong insists Sailom would have won easily had his opponent not been from Kazakhstan which has two members on the executive committee of the International Boxing Association.

"Sailom did his best and everyone saw him do better than his opponent," Thong said.

"Even Gani admitted that he should have lost. I feel sad that Sailom lost because of poor officiating."

Thong said Sailom's defeat might affect Chatchai Butdee and Kaew Pongprayoon, the other Thai boxers in the tournament.

Chatchai will fight in the 52kg division this morning while Kaew will make his Olympic debut in the 49kg class this evening.