CAS rejects French boxer’s appeal over disqualification

Sport’s top court CAS on Tuesday rejected French boxer Mourad Aliev’s appeal over his Tokyo Olympics disqualification for headbutting his opponent Frazer Clarke.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said there may have been “the possibility of a technical error by the referee” but since the decision was taken during the fight it would stand.

Aliev had lodged a furious protest with an hour-long ring-side sit-in on Sunday after being disqualified in his super heavyweight quarterfinal bout against the Briton following a series of headbutts that had injured his opponent.

“The panel of arbitrators in charge of the matter has rejected the application filed at the CAS Ad Hoc Division on 2 August 2021 by the French boxer Mourad Aliev in relation to the decision taken by the referee to disqualify him,” CAS said in its decision.

Although the CAS panel did not rule out the possibility of a technical error by the referee, it said it “eventually decided to confirm the challenged decisions in view of the fact that the referee’s decision to disqualify Mourad Aliev took place on the field of play.”

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Aliev’s post-bout behaviour had caused a furore, with the 26-year-old spitting out his mouth guard, punching a TV camera and making offensive gestures.

His opponent had suffered cuts above both eyes and was bleeding when the referee deemed an intentional headbutt by Aliev, winning the match with four seconds left in the second round.

Clarke is fighting Uzbeki Bakhodir Jalolov in Wednesday’s semifinal.