NEW CLARK CITY (Philippines): The Philippines SEA Games Organising Committee (PHISGOC) has agreed to reinstate the ribbon event gold medal to Malaysian rhythmic gymnast Izzah Amzan after studying the technical regulations for the Games.
Malaysia’s chef de mission Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin said the gold medal would be added back to the medal tally for the Malaysian contingent by the end of today.
"They (PHISGOC) have agreed with a clause in the SEA Games rule book and will reinstate it (gold medal),” he told Bernama, here, today.
However, a check on the official website for the Games, gms.2019seagames.com, today showed that the competition secretariat has yet to reinstate Izzah as a joint winner in the event with her teammate Koi Sie Yan.
The two gymnasts registered an identical score of 15.200 points in the ribbon apparatus on Dec 7 but the jury initially declared Sie Yan as the champion and Izzah as runner-up based on the level of difficulty in their routine.
The competition technical officials, however, declared the two joint winners following a protest by the Malaysian camp against the jury’s decision.
One day later PHISGOC was reported to have withdrawn the gold from Izzah based on the tie-break procedure under International Gymnastics Federation rules. Malaysia then filed an official complaint which led to the latest decision by PHISGOC.
Izzah also won the gold in ball event and silver in hoop. -- BERNAMA