BANGKOK, Jan 12: The Philippines and Thailand have renewed their spiteful argument over last month’s Southeast Asian Games boxing boycott, with each freshly blaming the other for the embarrassing forfeits of gold-medal bouts.

The latest round of accusations comes ahead of next month’s executive committee meeting of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), when the chaotic final day of forfeits will be assessed and sanctions considered.

A letter from Manny Lopez, president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines, to AIBA president Ching Kuo Wu dated Dec 31, 2007 was obtained by the Associated Press.

In the letter, Lopez accused Thai organisers of hand-picking officials, and blamed other “glaring irregularities” around the tournament for the Philippines’ decision to forfeit all but one of its men’s gold medal bouts against Thai opponents.

The Philippines’ boycott was prompted by the previous day’s women’s finals, when host nation Thailand swept all bouts against Filipino opponents that were decided on points.

AIBA acknowledged receipt of the letter, and said it would be considered along with a report from SEA Games technical delegates when the executive committee evaluates the events.

“The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines didn’t come to Thailand hoping for favorable treatment but competed with the spirit of sportsmanship in mind,” Lopez said in the letter.

“Unfortunately, a string of unfortunate events forced us to show our disgust and lack of interest in participating in the men’s boxing finals.

“The protest action was not designed to create havoc, to shame the host country, but to bring into the open the sad state of boxing in the biennial Games that has been going on for quite some time now.”

Lopez said the “malpractices” were remnants of two decades of questionable officiating.

General Taweep Jantararoj, president of the the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand, rejected Lopez’s assertions and accused the Philippines of causing irregularities in boxing when it hosted the 2003 SEA Games.

“The Philippines make very poor excuses to make others look bad, but actually the real reason for the boycott was that Manny Lopez was well aware that his boxers would be beaten by the Thai team because the Philippines sent their B team to fight with the A team of Thailand,” Taweep said.

“Thailand would not do such things because we were badly hurt during the 23rd SEA Games when the Philippines was the host and I was the one who corrected this flaw.”—AP