BEIJING - The Chinese mainland on Wednesday urged international sports organizations to quickly determine the validity of a Taiwan taekwondo athlete's disqualification at the Asian Games.
Fan Liqing, a spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks at a press conference in response to questions about the appeal against the disqualification of Yang Shu-chun, a taekwondo athlete.
Yang was disqualified on Wednesday last week after the competition supervision commission ruled that she was wearing more than the allowed number of sensor pads inside her electronic socks, with the intention of boosting her scoring chances.
The decision came as she was ahead in a match against Vietnam's Vu Thi Hau.
"We have urged and will continue to urge related sports organs to give factual accounts on this incident through the investigation, and to safeguard the athlete's legitimate rights and interests," Fan said.
Fan's remarks came after the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)'s announcement on Friday that it would examine more evidence in their investigation into the incident on the basis of video footage.
After the incident, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office had expressed regret for the athlete.
"We feel regretful over what happened," Fan reiterated Wednesday, saying the mainland could not comment on the ruling of the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU), as the Asian Games was an international sports event.
Fan said last week that she was aware that during the incident, ATU officials from the mainland did their best to minimize the setback to the Chinese Taipei taekwondo team.
After her disqualification, Yang refused to leave the match mat in protest, but the mainland ATU officials refrained from punishing the entire Chinese Taipei taekwondo team for her behavior, said Fan.
The mainland, including a mainland technical judge at the Games, Zhao Lei, had offered help within their capacity and sought to protect the rights of the Chinese Taipei taekwondo team, said Fan.
Zhao Lei had participated in the whole disqualification procedure, and could be subject to legal procedures in Taiwan, according to Taiwan media reports.
Fan said Zhao had done his best to safeguard the Taiwan athlete's rights and helped to ensure the entire Chinese Taipei taekwondo team continued to participate in the Games.
Fan also denied speculation that the mainland and the Republic of Korea had colluded to eliminate Yang from the competition.
As host of the Games, the mainland had always offered high quality services to the Chinese Taipei team, Fan said.
She hoped the team would win more medals in the last three days of the Games, which are being held in Guangzhou.
As of Tuesday, Chinese Taipei had won 12 gold, 11 silver and 29 bronze medals.
Asian Games exhibition held in Beijing
