Video: Sarita Devi refuses Asian Games bronze medal after being robbed of silver, gives bronze to Korean opponent

Sarita Devi in tears during the medal ceremony

The whole world saw the shocking events of yesterday at the Asian Games, where India’s Sarita Devi, despite being deemed as the clear winner by a majority of the viewers, was robbed of a victory. Her Korean opponent Jina Park looked battered and bruised by the end of the bout, but to the utter disbelief of everyone watching, it was Park who was raising her arms at the end, with each judge delivering a final verdict of 39-37 in her favour.

At the presentation ceremony today, Devi could not control her emotions and broke down into copious tears as she was presented with her medal. It was clear that she felt she deserved to stand at the top or at the very least, the second place on the podium, and not at the bronze medal position.

After dithering for a while, Devi took the medal but it was clear that she did not want to keep it. She then walked towards Park and handed the Korean the bronze medal.

It is rumoured that Park in return offered her silver medal to Devi, acknowledging that the Indian was the better boxer in their fight.

It appears the Korean offered her silver medal to Sarita. Which, obv, she refused. And that Sarita has left her own medal on the podium.

— Pitch Invasion (@pitchinv) October 1, 2014

The bronze medal was eventually left by Devi on the podium and was later collected by the officials.

Here is a video by a news channel showing footage of the entire medal ceremony:

You can watch the controversial semi-final bout between India’s Sarita Devi and South Korean Jina Park here.