Neither the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) nor the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) has received notice from the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) that Taiwan's right to participate in international taekwondo competitions has been suspended, SAC Deputy Minister Chen Hsien-tsung (陳顯宗) said yesterday.
Chen made the remarks after Coleman Lee (李正勇), a Taiwanese member of the WTF Council, was quoted by local media as saying that the ATU president told him that the union was dissatisfied with the Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association's (CTTA) penalty against Zheng Dawei (鄭大為), who served as the referee at the East Asian Games in Hong Kong last year.
Zheng was one of the referees for a 72kg-level championship match where Taiwanese athlete Tseng Ching-hsiang (曾敬翔) was scheduled to compete against a South Korean opponent. Tseng was punched in the throat, a move many people believed was a malicious attack. Zheng, however, ruled the South Korean athlete scored, which also helped the athlete secure the championship.
Minister without Portfolio Ovid Tseng (曾志朗), who led the Taiwanese team at the East Asian Games and watched the entire match on the sideline, protested against what he saw as an unfair ruling as soon as the match was over.
When he returned to Taiwan, Zheng said in a television interview that Ovid Tseng had no right to protest and may be seen as intending to cause riots. Because of the comment, the CTTA's disciplinary committee suspended Zheng from coaching taekwondo and refereeing for three years. The committee later decided to reinstate his right to be a referee, but his right to coach remained suspended.
Lee was reported by local media as saying that the penalty was perceived as an outright challenge to the ATU's authority.
In a brief statement issued on Monday night, the SAC said it would use every means possible to resolve this matter, adding that it was trying to contact Lee and ask him to do everything he can to communicate this matter with the ATU.
The SAC said it has also asked Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國), a Taiwanese member at the International Olympic Committee, for assistance.
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