- A French boxer was disqualified from his Olympic bout, leaving his opponent with a medal.
- Mourad Aliev punched a camera and sat on the ring apron for an hour in protest.
- He said: "It's totally unfair - I was winning the match."
A French boxer competing at the Tokyo
Mourad Aliev was disqualified in the super heavyweight quarter-final bout on Sunday for excessive use of his head, the BBC reported.
His disqualification leaves his competitor, the UK's Frazer Clarke, with at least a bronze medal.
In response, Aliev kicked the canvass and punched a TV camera.
He then sat on the ring apron for 30 minutes, left the arena after talking with some officials, and then returned to resume his sit-in protest 15 minutes later, according to Reuters.
Video footage shows his response:
-BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 1, 2021
He told reporters when he left the ring about his disqualification, Reuters reported: "It's totally unfair - I was winning the match."
He said he wasn't warned about excessive use of his head: "I was just stopped without any warning and they just told me that 'you lost' - just like that. So I think it was an act of sabotage."
"I prepared my whole life for this event, so getting mad for something like that is natural."
Clarke said he had sympathy for Aliev: "I've been in these situations myself. Often you're not thinking with your head, you're thinking with your heart and your emotions are all over the place."
Cuts on Clarke's head from the match were looked at twice by a doctor at the ring, the BBC reported.