Jury judged, India win battle on court

Rohit Mahajan in Hangzhou

BY turn, the kabaddi players of India and Iran squatted down in the court, while the umpires and the jury and officials of various federations grappled with each other — for over an hour.

The Indian men did win the match, 33-29, to reclaim their Asiad gold, but the ugly drama enacted by the officials on the sport’s biggest stage left the sport disgraced. During the weird hour, the umpires changed their decision four times — one point each to both teams; then 4 to India and one to Iran; then back to one point each; finally, three to India and one to Iran.

In the final moments of the men’s final between India and Iran, chaos reigned and no one knew exactly what was happening — except that the umpires, jury members and officials seemed to be negotiating over exactly what the score should be.

Such a pity the players and the fans had to endure this, because for 39 minutes, it was a thrilling final and with 90 seconds left on the clock, the teams were tied at 28-28.

It was at this point that Pawan Sehrawat, the Indian captain, went for a raid; he was hoping to get one single point, to put his team 29-28 — but he got indecision and chaos and a break lasting an hour. Having failed to get a touch, the star player seemed to be retreating but went into the right ‘lobby’ (out of bounds) of the Iranian side; four Iranian defenders, led by Amirhossein Bastami, rushed at him to pin him, and this led to utter confusion. The rule is that a defender can follow a raider into the ‘lobby’ only if he’s been touched by the raider; the Indians believed that the Iranian defenders followed Sehrawat out, though he had not got a touch on him.

When the two teams were awarded one point each, the Indians protested — pointing to replays on the giant screen, they shouted their annoyance at the ‘incorrect’ decision; following a review, the jury changed its decision — four points to India, one to Iran, putting India up 32-29. The Indians jumped up and down and began to celebrate. The Iranians howled in protest. Officials from the Asian, Iranian and Indian federations rushed to the table of the jury and argued; jury members argued among themselves and with the umpires. Watching the same replay repeatedly, everyone seemed to be seeing different things! Kabaddi officialdom from the VIP seats rushed to the jury members.

It was clear that the jury and the umpires in kabaddi’s biggest stage were being asked to make a specific decision. Soon, it was back to one point each for the two teams. The Indian players squatted on the court; the Indian women’s team, winners of gold earlier in the day, raised shrill howls of protest from the stands; close by, the Iranian women too raised hell.

Then the decision was changed to three points to India, one to Iran — time for Iranian men to squat on the field. It seemed the contest among officials had reached an impasse — it was at this point that the jury members were led out. When they returned, they stuck to their decision of three points to India, one to Iran; with 65 seconds left, India led 32-29. Only two more raids were possible before time was over, and the Indians celebrated wildly. A gold, yes, but a thrilling final marred by officials bullying the jury.

Iranian coach Gholamreza Mazandarani said he’d not seen anything like this. “I’ve been with kabaddi for more than 25 years, as a player and coach, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Mazandarani. “They (jury) went in and came out after some time. I don’t know what happened in that room,” he added. “There were 2-3 persons in jury, they are very weak because they are not kabaddi players or coach or referee. It was not our mistake, it was not their (India’s) mistake, it was jury’s mistake.”

“The jury made four different decisions,” said Iranian captain Fazel Atrachali. “That was very bad for the final. Maybe this is OK if it is the Maharashtra league. But here, the world is watching us.”

India coach E Bhaskaran said: “After the jury made it 4-1 following our protest, the Asian federation president, who is from Iran, signalled ‘1-1’ from the stands. The jury changed the decision.”

“Officials were not listening to the jury, too,” he added, and suggested that electoral politics was at play: ‘Apne fayde ke liye, trying to use their power.’

Closing ceremony

Live on Sony 5:30pm

Short takes

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