BUSAN, Oct 4: A Japanese bodybuilding referee has been removed from the Asian Games in Busan for alleged bias, tournament organisers said Friday.

The decision to drop Katsunori Masaeda from the panel of referees came after fellow judges complained of irregularities in his scorecard on the opening day of the bodybuilding competition Thursday.

“A Japanese athlete was seventh or eighth on most scorecards in the men’s 80 kilograms yesterday, but there were irregularities in the scorecard of Mr. Masaeda,” Kim Jae-soo, director of operations for bodybuilding, told Reuters.