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Boxer Mourad Aliev disputes his disqualification with CAS

Tokyo Olympic Games 2021dossier

Eliminated for a head butt on his opponent during a fight he dominated, the French boxer requests the annulment of the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The other athletes of the French boxing delegation in Tokyo also all attacked the judges.

The French boxer Mourad Aliev, eliminated Sunday from the Tokyo Olympics in the quarterfinals on disqualification in the +91 kg category, challenged this decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), announced the court on the night of Monday to Tuesday. “Murad Aliev asks for the cancellation” of this disqualification, and “The authorization to resume the fight from the start of the second round, with a different referee and judges”, explains CAS. In a statement dated Tokyo, the Tribunal said that an arbitration commission met on the evening of August 2 and received the various parties. Its final decision will be communicated “as soon as possible”. It must be said that time is running out for Mourad Aliev. Following the quarter-final match, his opponent, Briton Frazer Clarke, must line up in the semi-final on Wednesday around 8 a.m. (Paris time zone).

The last Frenchman still in contention in this Olympic boxing tournament, and last chance for a medal after the premature defeats of the four other fighters engaged under the tricolor flag, Mourad Aliev had been disqualified for a head butt to his opponent, which the boxer had lived as an injustice. Incredulous and furious, Aliev, who dominated the fight after a given first round winning 3 judges to 2, then went around in circles in the ring, refusing to come down and going to see his opponent to tell him “I won”. During the fight, Clarke had to be treated twice by the left browbone. It was after the second treatment that the referee, calling the two boxers, signaled his decision to disqualify the Frenchman.

“Scandal”

After the announcer made the result official, the Frenchman then made the “no” sign with his fingers in front of the cameras, and remained seated on the edge of the ring several minutes after the decision, refusing to budge. Descended from the ring, the French boxer explained that the referees had admitted having made a mistake, but that they could not reverse their decision, which was validated. “It’s a scandal, it’s nonsense”, had denounced Aliev on France Televisions, believing “To suffer an injustice”.

The director of the cell in charge of organizing the tournament within the IOC confirmed his elimination on Monday, sanctioning no longer the headbutt but his “Unsportsmanlike behavior” once the disqualification is pronounced. French “Acted disrespectfully towards the referee”, “Uses profanity through clear gestures”, hit a camera and “Created a very tense atmosphere”, enumerated the Australian Wayne Rose, in charge of the referees.

French disappointments

Before Mourad Aliev, all French boxers complained about arbitration decisions against them. Billal Bennama was beaten in the round of 16 on Saturday against Kazakh Saken Bibossinov. The French who fights in -52 kg felt that his opponent did not deserve the victory, which was awarded to him by the judges by 29 points to 28. The same day, his compatriot Sofiane Oumiha, Olympic vice-champion in -63 kg in Rio, was eliminated by judgment of the referee, who considered that he was no longer able to continue the fight. An incomprehensible decision for Brahim Asloum, former Olympic champion and consultant for France Télévisions: “It’s hard, it’s too quick, premature, unfair to stop. Especially since the referee only counted it up to 6, and not 8 by law. ”

Maïva Hamadouche, six-time world champion among the pros, also challenged her elimination as soon as she entered the -60 kg competition. She does not understand the arbitration decision which gives her opponent the Finnish Mira Potkonen the winner. “In the last round, she takes a warning and I am the loser anyway. I’m sorry, I want all that Olympic spirit, but for me, this fight, I will not lose it ”, she was annoyed in front of the cameras of France Televisions. Equally disappointed, Frenchman Samuel Kistohurry, the Blues’ first boxer to compete but defeated in the round of 32 in the -57 kg category, said: “I’m sick of being eliminated, I don’t understand. The American refused the fight, he was not at the level, he is not a class boxer. It is a decision that pains my heart. We must now question ourselves and move forward. ”

Cruel fate for the French boxing delegation, which should return empty-handed from Tokyo – except for a reversal of the situation after a possible favorable opinion from the CAS – when it had won six charms including two gold at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

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