Laos face sanction over takraw fiasco

INCHEON — The Laos sepak takraw team could face further sanctions following the no-show of their men’s doubles team for Sunday’s semi-final against South Korea at the 2014 Asian Games.

Asian Sepaktakraw Federation (ASF) president Abdul Halim Kader said the regional body will meet to consider the appropriate penalty for Laos, whose disqualification from the men’s doubles competition also resulted in Singapore being handed the joint bronze medal.

“The competition managers and the technical committee decided to disqualify Laos from the men’s doubles, after they failed to show up for their semi-final,” said Halim, who is also secretary-general of the Singapore Sepaktakraw Federation (PERSES). “They disrupted the tournament and brought embarrassment to the sport, especially when the host broadcaster was standing by to carry the match live.”

Halim confirmed the ASF will form a disciplinary committee to look into the matter, with a decision expected today.

“The ASF will decide whether the players who failed to show up would be excluded for the rest of the tournament or whether the entire team will be thrown out,” he said. “This incident is disappointing as we are trying to push for the game to be included in other major Games, and such matters will not be taken lightly.”

The Laos team comprising Vankham Sonmani, Daovy and Noum Souvannalith failed to show when called upon to register an hour before their 2pm match on Sunday at the Bucheon Gymnasium.

According to the official incident report, the team returned to the Athletes Village 13km away and were having lunch when finally contacted 15 minutes from start time. But they failed to turn up even after the match was officially delayed for 20 minutes.

Explaining their absence to the insidethegames website yesterday, Laos team manager Sengthong Vangkoemany said: “We had a match earlier and the players were tired so we decided to go back to Athletes Village to take a rest. Unfortunately, we were stuck in a traffic jam, causing us to arrive 30 minutes late. If the victory had only been cancelled, it would still have been acceptable. But they cancelled our medal and gave it to Singapore. It’s not fair.”

Halim said it was a decision by the tournament’s technical committee to award the bronze to the next best team, with Singapore edging out Indonesia by virtue of winning one set more during group play. The bronze also spells a windfall for Singapore players Farhan Amran, Hafiz Nor Izham Ja’afar and Eddy Nor Shafiq Sahari, as it would entitle them to S$80,000 under the Singapore National Olympic Council’s Multi-million Dollar Awards Programme.

Myanmar won gold in both the doubles finals decided yesterday with their men defeating South Korea 21-19, 21-18 while their women topped Laos 21-16, 21-15.