An unusual incident at the 33rd SEA Games: After finishing the semi-final, they immediately received the gold medal.

An unusual event, the kind that 'only happens at the SEA Games,' occurred in taekwondo, women's 62-67kg weight category. Thai fighter Chareewan Piyachutrutai was awarded the gold medal without having to compete in the final match.

Fighter Chareewan celebrates his victory in the final without even... competing - Photo: THAIRATH

Here, Chareewan faced her opponent from Myanmar, Thwe Mon Lin, in the semi-finals, where she won convincingly and was immediately awarded the gold medal by the SEA Games organizers.

This unusual situation arose because Cambodian athletes withdrew from the 33rd SEA Games immediately after the opening ceremony. This unexpected decision once again plunged the competitions at the regional sporting event into a bizarre and unfortunate situation.

The women's 62-67kg taekwondo category initially had only 3 participants, meeting the minimum requirement from the SEA Games organizers to form a competitive event.

Besides Chareewan and Mon Lin, there is also Vann Borey from Cambodia in this weight class. The draw placed Chareewan against Mon Lin in the semi-finals, while Vann Borey advanced directly to the final.

But then the Cambodian sports delegation decided to withdraw from the SEA Games on the morning of December 10th, and naturally Vann Borey was no longer participating in the final.

Because the draw had already taken place, Chareewan and Mon Lin still faced each other in the semi-finals, creating one of the strangest semi-final matches in sports history, where the winner took home the gold medal and the loser the silver.

According to the SEA Games Council rules, an event can only be held if there are representatives from at least three participating countries.

There have been many similar precedents where, in events with only three participants, whoever was present was automatically awarded a bronze medal.

At the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam, a Vietnamese diver repeatedly made mistakes in her events, yet was still awarded a silver medal because one of the three divers withdrew before the competition.

At this SEA Games, host country Thailand stated that the Cambodian sports delegation's last-minute withdrawal was due to reasons outside the realm of sports, and that the training efforts of other athletes should not be affected.

Therefore, Thailand decided to hold all events at the 33rd SEA Games at all costs, regardless of how many athletes compete.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chuyen-hi-huu-o-sea-games-33-dau-xong-ban-ket-nhan-luon-hcv-20251212153207787.htm