Taekwondo controversy erupts: Vietnam and the Philippines sue referees for unfair defeats, Singapore wins gold medal in an unconvincing manner.

The taekwondo arena at Fashion Island Shopping Centre (Bangkok) is abuzz with excitement as Vietnam and the Philippines simultaneously filed lawsuits due to outrage over the referees' blatant bias towards Singapore.

The Vietnamese delegation (red shirt) and the Philippines (blue) jointly sued the Organizing Committee because the referee gave biased scores to Singapore.

Photo: Quoc Viet

Outrage over taekwondo referees repeatedly showing favoritism towards Singapore.

On the very first day of competition, taekwondo was rocked by the referees' inexplicable decisions, with blatant bias in scoring that helped Singapore win the gold medal in the mixed doubles poomsae (forms) event, which Filipino reporters described as "stolen".

Immediately after the final match, taekwondo team leader Nguyen Thu Trang and coach Nguyen Minh Tu paid the fee and officially filed a complaint with the organizing committee, disagreeing with the judges' scoring method, which overlooked too many fouls committed by Singapore.

The Vietnamese side asserted that the Singaporean pair committed three fouls in the final match (the female athlete committed two fouls, the male athlete committed one loss of balance), but the referees overlooked them all.

Impressive performance by Nguyen Thi Kim Ha and Nguyen Trong Phuc

Photo: Nhat Thinh

The judges awarded very high scores to Singapore, with scores of 8.84 and 8.50, while the pair of athletes Nguyen Thi Kim Ha and Nguyen Trong Phuc, despite performing well, only achieved scores of 8.50 and 8.38 in the mixed doubles kata final.

Singapore's two controversial victories, disagreement over 'VAR check'.

Coach Minh Tú stated: "It doesn't matter which team wins, but the referee's scoring is flawed. They ignored three clear technical fouls committed by two Singaporean athletes. The Philippines are also upset and have filed a complaint with the organizing committee because they are dissatisfied with the biased scoring in favor of Singapore in the semi-final match."

The Vietnamese taekwondo team has paid the fees, submitted a written complaint to the organizing committee, and is awaiting a resolution. A large number of Vietnamese media representatives are standing outside the technical room, waiting for the referees to process the complaint.

Nguyen Thi Kim Ha's bittersweet smile after Singapore's unconvincing victory.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

The dissatisfaction of Philippine Taekwondo Federation President Tolentino Abraham

Photo: Quoc Viet

The Philippines team has also officially sued the referee for inaccurate scoring in the semi-final match. Malaysian reporters were also very upset, believing they were unfairly defeated in the semi-final against Singapore.

Philippine Taekwondo Federation President Tolentino said: "The Philippines has filed a complaint regarding the unfair scoring. The win-loss result is not important, but the referees must be fair. We are very upset that the referees absolutely refuse to provide video footage."

Reportedly, the Vietnamese and Philippine taekwondo teams collected video recordings of the matches to submit to the organizing committee; however, the referees are not accepting these as evidence, nor are they reviewing the video recordings for scoring.

The atmosphere at Fashion Island Arena is currently very tense. Taekwondo matches have been temporarily suspended pending the referees' final decision.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/taekwondo-day-song-viet-nam-va-philippines-kien-trong-tai-vi-thua-oan-uc-singapore-gianh-vang-khong-thuyet-phuc-185251210131553577.htm