KARACHI, Oct 11: The mystery of Iran’s protest over a decision in the Green Hill Cup international boxing tournament was solved on Saturday when a jury member admitted he had received but rejected the complaint.

“The objection raised by the Iran’s manager was not justified, therefore, I have rejected the plea as the decision by the referee to give Iranian boxer warnings was fair” Hohamyoun Ardalan told Dawn.

Etedali Ghlam Ali had protested against the two warnings given to his featherweight Yaghoobloo Morteza for punching Pakistan’s Sohail Baloch below the belt in a quarterfinal fight on Friday.

Chairman jury Kamel Shabib had denied on Friday that he had received an official protest from Iran manager. Ali on Saturday said he had submitted the protest to Ardalan of Iran instead of Syria’s Shabib.

“It was a misunderstanding. Actually the computer stopped working in the last stages of the bout when, I think, Morteza was leading. Somebody standing behind the jury’s computer must read the scores and have told that he (Morteza) was winning.

“I don’t know why the computer stopped. But when it started working again we received the decision in favour of Pakistan’s Sohail Baloch. As for the two warnings. I must say referee (Vahap Beser) did the right thing. Therefore, there is no justification for the protest,” the jury member said.

Ardalan said being member of the jury he was authorized to deal with any official protest and he could even reject it.