12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, May 11: Iranian officials were left disappointed on Tuesday when their protest against a decision was not entertained by the jury of the third Olympic qualifying boxing tournament.

"We protested in writing today against decision that deprived Mehdi Ghorbani of victory after Pakistan's Ahmad Ali was declared winner. "The jury says that we submitted the protest late and we were supposed to lodge complaint within half an hour after the fight," Iran chief coach Nohroudi Hossein said.

The official said since middleweight Ghorbani's fight was the last clash of Monday's quarterfinals, they failed to submit the protest within half an hour after the bout.

The tournament has been marred by a series of controversies with India, Sri Lanka, Syria, Iran and others, except Pakistan, complaining about the decisions. The biggest controversy was the incident in which Indian coach G.S. Sandhu charged Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) president Anwar Chowdhry with bias.

His outburst came while complaining to the technical delegate Shakeel Durrani after the defeat of light-flyweight Mohammad Ali Qamar against Japan's Toshiyuki Iqarashi in pre-quarterfinals.