BEIJING, Aug 23: Cuban taekwondo exponent Angel Valodia Matos attacked a referee in a dramatic final session of competition at the Beijing Olympics Saturday and was instantly given a lifetime ban from international competition.

Matos, a Sydney 2000 gold medallist, chased Swedish referee Chakir Chelbat and kicked him in the head after being disqualified in a men’s quarter-final bout.

The 31-year-old Cuban erupted when he was sent off for taking too much injury time in the middle of the second round of his +80kg bout against world silver medallist Arman Chilmanov of Kazakhstan.

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) immediately said Matos and his coach would be permanently barred from all championships it promotes.

“This is a strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games,” the announcer said in the stadium reading from a WTF statement.

“The sanctions are the following and are effective immediately: Lifetime ban of the coach and athlete in all championships sanctioned by the World Taekwondo Federation and at the same time, all records of this athlete at the Beijing Games will immediately be erased.”

Chilmanov was surprised at Matos’s “unsportsmanlike manner” and did not believe the Cuban would have been able to continue anyway after failing to recover within the regulation one-minute injury time.

“He got injured in the bout. To me it was obvious he was unable to continue. His toe on his left foot was broken,” said Chilmanov who went on to win the bronze medal. —AFP