Asian Athletics Championships: 100m men's final marred by controversy

Bhubaneshwar: The men’s 100 metres sprint event at the Asian Athletics Championships was mired in controversy after Malaysia’s Khairul Hafiz, who was disqualified for a fault start, lodged a protest which resulted in the disqualification of another athlete. [caption id=“attachment_3792003” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Iran’s Haran Taftian (L) competes to win the Gold Medal in men’s 100m event. AFP[/caption] Qatar’s Tosin Joseph Onugode was disqualified today by the technical delegates on the ground after being found to have false-started upon examining the print outs of the reaction time of the competing athletes while coming out of the blocks. Tosin is the brother of Femi Seun Onugode, the defending champion, who was stunned by Iran’s Hassan Taftian in the competition. The disqualification did not change the medal standings as Tosin had finished fifth in yesterday’s race which had seen another athlete, China’s Tang Xingqiang, also disqualified for fault start. Malaysian Hafiz’s demand in the protest application to re-run the race was rejected by the technical delegates. The Malaysian team also lodged a protest, citing doubts over the equipment used by the starting officials. However, the jury of technical delegates rejected it, saying that all the equipment used were certified by the world governing body, the IAAF.