GLASGOW: Pakistan boxer Mohammad Waseem hit back at the judges after losing the final of the flyweight category to Australian Andrew Moloney at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday.
Waseem lost by an unanimous decision with the judges scoring for Moloney in all three rounds.
“This is crazy,” a visibly upset Waseem said after the five judges awarded Moloney the fight. “He [Moloney] cheating, the referee, the judges they’re all cheating. Not happy with silver.”
Moloney held his nerve early on to frustrate Waseem, who was keen to encourage his rival to adopt an attacking approach early on as he looked for areas to exploit.
However, the Australian proved to be too smart for Pakistan’s boxing captain as he fought a controlled fight, relying on his fast hands, calmly picked his spots to land a number of clean blows.
Moloney won the first round and although Waseem, a bronze medallist in Delhi four years ago, caught him with a nice shot to the body in the second round, Moloney got himself out of trouble to win that round.
Waseem, perhaps sensing that he was behind on the scorecards, increased the tempo to finally trouble his opponent with a series of combinations.
But Moloney opened a cut on the cheek of Waseem and despite a late rally from his opponent, had the discipline to steady, return fire and claim gold.
Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2014
