‘Poor refereeing’ prevents Saadi from winning medal

KARACHI: Pakistan’s chances to enhance their medals tally were hurt when poor refereeing prevented Ghulam Abbas Saadi from winning his bronze medal fight against Jordan’s Alnajjar Bashar.

In men’s 75 kg category, he was winning the fight 5-2 but judges ruled that he committed a foul in the last second. Alnajjar was declared the winner with the score of 8-0. Saadi played this match despite a serious injury he incurred in the previous fight. The judges’ decision shocked the audience and Pakistani staff there, an official said.

Pakistan Karate Federation’s (PKF) official Jahangir, however, chose not to file a review against the decision, the official added.Saadi had defeated Hamza Abuleifa of Palestine 3-0 in the 1/16 finals and beat Qassim Ghavidel of Qatar 6-1 in the 1/8 finals.

He won against Sharmendran Raghonathan of Malaysia 10-5 in the quarter-finals but lost to Raef Adel Alturkistani of Saudi Arabia 2-4 in the semi-final. Kulsoom lost 0-5 to Nguyen Thi Ngoan of Vietnam in women’s 68kg category quarter-final. Beenish was beaten by Alajmi Hawraa 0-5 in the 1/8 final of 50kg category.