Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-shun stages a sit-down protest Wednesday after she was disqualified in the first round of the under- 49kg bout at the Asian Games for equipping two unauthorized electronic sensors in her socks. Photo: IC

By Zhu Shanshan

Mainland officials rejected an accusation Thursday as to whether the disqualification of a Taiwanese taekwondo athlete at the Asian Games had been politically motivated. They further urged the arbitration committee to confirm their ruling.

The taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun was disqualified in the first round of her under-49kg bout against Vietnamese opponent Vu Thi Hua on Wednesday after two unauthorized electronic sensors were claimed to be found in her footwear.

Yang, who had been leading her Vietnamese opponent 9-0 when the match was stopped, was left in tears and staged a sit-down protest after the decision and a subsequent appeal to the World Taewondo Federation (WTF) being rejected.

"This was an extremely unfair decision. I don't know what was wrong. All of my electronic protective equipment respected official specifications," Yang was quoted by the Taipei Times as saying. "Before the start of the bout, the chief judge carefully examined all the equipment on my body and did not raise any questions."

The paper revealed Yang had taken two pairs of socks for the game but that the first pair had failed the test and been confiscated by officials.

Yang's coach Liu Yung-lung also protested the decision as being unreasonable, claiming the socks were from a WTF-certified brand and had passed inspection, according to the report. He added that individual athletes should not have to pay for the problems of authorities.

The WTF defended its decision yesterday, saying extra sensors had been removed from Yang's socks before the bout, only for others to be placed back on again.

"We would like to give athletes the benefit of the doubt, but we will not condone such behavior that can be reasonably regarded as cheating," Yang Jin-suk, secretary-general of the WTF told Reuters by telephone. 

The dispute escalated at a news conference Wednesday when Taiwanese journalists slammed the WTF, calling the disqualification "politically motivated."

Taiwanese television anchor Chen Yi-an said she suspected a plot, as Yang Shu-chun had been likely to face off in the final against mainland  competitor Wu Jingyu, gold medalist at the Beijing Olympic Games, the Taipei Times reported.

Wang Yi, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council, told Taiwan-based Central News Agency yesterday that the affair did not constitute friction between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, and Wang hoped it would not affect cross-Straits ties.

As to the conspiracy assertion, Wang said he hoped that "Chinese Taipei could win as many medals as they can. Chinese mainland has gained so many medals in the Games. It's impossible for this to be a plot."

Ren Hai, a professor at Beijing Sports University, told the Global Times that it is unlikely for a host to intentionally disqualify an athlete, since the rules are stipulated by the WTF and such decisions are made by an international arbitration commission. 

Wang Jianmin, a researcher with the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said both the public and officials in Taiwan should calmly examine the incident and not politicize the decision.

Liu Linlin contributed to this story