'Karate champs were terribly disappointing'

The first international karate championships on African soil were marred by allegations of biased refereeing, poor organisational skills on the part of the host team and irregularities in the scoring system.

The much-hyped about three-day event at the International Convention Centre (ICC), with more than 50 participating Shotokan Karate International Federation affiliated countries, disappointed some spectators and competitors.

The official tournament programme was revised on several occasions, causing confusion among participants and the public.

The opening ceremony, which was expected to take place on Friday night after the day's events, was rescheduled for Saturday night and started late because Deputy President Jacob Zuma arrived late.

Spectators also complained that the opening ceremony was not reflective of South Africa's diversity.

"Jacob Zuma arrived late, but the organisers didn't bother to revise their programme and continued with their long drawn out items, even though they knew that a lot of spectators had been at the hall for about 12 hours. Each of the items showcased the Indian culture and was not at all reflective of our rainbow nation," said a spectator.

Another spectator said: "I'm terribly disappointed that the organisers used the opening ceremony and the event to hobnob rather than concentrate on the children and the sport. There was no consideration for the children and participants, who had been at the hall for about 12 hours, and had paid money to watch the competition and ceremony."

Zuma, Narend Singh and Vivian Reddy were thrilled when they received honorary belts, but Singh was less than pleased when he delivered his speech to an empty hall.

The designated scorekeeper failed to turn up for duty, resulting in a number of officials at various corners of the hall using manual copies that were not entirely reliable.

As a result, the medal tally was incorrect and the scorekeepers did not have names for all the competitors.

The president and world cup CEO, Sonny Pillay, was also heavily criticised for his intervention after his daughter, Evita Pillay, complained of refereeing irregularities.

Senior female karateka Evita said she was unfairly judged in her fight against an Italian fighter because four Italians were judging the match.

Pillay spoke to the judges after his daughter's call for a rematch was denied.

Referees came under attack again during the team event when the South Africa team lodged a complaint.

Vice-captain Brando Pillay said the referees were inconsistent in the rulings throughout the tournament and had lodged a complaint after the South African team were knocked out. The judges' decision was upheld.

"We were robbed of a place in the finals because of a disgraceful decision by the judges. The international judges have made some really bad decisions, particularly against the African countries."

Senior karateka Megendren Naidoo was annoyed when the referees disqualified him in the team event.

"If anything, they should have deducted a point, but disqualifying me was totally uncalled for. I've worked really hard for the past 18 months, and one bad referee ruined my tournament."

Pillay was the resident announcer, but had failed to provide spectators with the latest results or information about current fights and fighters.

Responding to the complaints, Pillay said they had been hampered by financial constraints as the corporate world had not shown any interest in the event.

He said that they had only received support from the KwaZulu-Natal government and had put together a world-class event with limited resources.