Published>Mon, Oct 11 10 11:17 PM
Angry home fans labelled English boxer Anthony Ogogo a cheat after he claimed a controversial victory in the battle of television celebrities with India's Vijender Singh at the Commonwealth Games on Monday.
Ogogo, who appeared in reality television show Big Brother, beat Singh, who is set to act in a Bollywood film and has appeared on various Indian television programmes, 4-3 without landing a scoring punch in their middleweight semi-final.
Home fans at the nearly full 2,500-seat Talkatora Indoor Stadium were on their feet chanting and dancing, waving Indian flags as their most loved boxer cruised into a 3-0 lead and looked assured of booking his place in the gold medal match.
But Singh was then twice penalised in the final round, first for punching the back of his opponent's head and then for holding, the last two-point punishment coming 15 seconds before the end of the contest.
The Indian team lodged a protest with event officials after the result.
"He is like the Indian (David) Beckham but I've been his Achilles heel," Ogogo told reporters.
"I've beaten him, I've toppled him and I can't believe it. I'm so happy."
Singh, the world amateur number one and bronze medallist at the Beijing Olympics two years ago, was heavily favoured to lift the gold in Delhi and had been in good form stopping his two previous opponents.
The decision drew a number of boos from the home crowd who chanted "cheater, cheater" as Ogogo celebrated his victory by walking around the ring and flexing his arm muscles.
'FOUL PLAY'
Ogogo then further enraged the crowd by blowing kisses at them as he walked past on his way to the dressing room.
"What he was doing was foul play and he got penalised for it. If this had been a neutral country then I would have won outright, without the added points," Ogogo said.
"I thrive on fighting under pressure. But all respect to the Indian crowd because they've shown me and the England team nothing but hospitality."
Indian media were angry when they were told Singh would not be speaking immediately after the bout. Journalists were seen shouting at volunteers to bring out Canadian referee Michael Summers to explain his decisions.
The loss was one of four suffered by Indians in the semi-finals of various weights at the hands of British boxers on Monday.
However, Indian lightweight Suranjoy Mayengbam was able to book a place in a final after he easily beat English-born Pakistani Haroon Khan, the younger brother of light-welterweight world champion Amir.
Other Indians to claim berths in Wednesday's finals were light-welterweight Manoj Kumar and super-heavyweight Paramjeet Samota.
Source: Web Search
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