BUZZ Greek coach Mikaelian says refereeing cost two golds at U19 World Boxing Championships

Greece's U19 World Boxing Championships ended with one medal, and the national team's coach says it should have been more. Artur Mikaelian, in a public statement reported by Fightsports Greece, said the team could have won at least two gold medals and called himself "incredibly disappointed and furious" with the officiating.

His central claim is that the referees use a systematic method that other coaches have noticed too, not only him. He named Thanasis Theofanous (90 kg) and Alexandros Tsamtsis (75 kg) as boxers wronged in exactly the same way, without describing their bouts in detail.

The two fights he described at length were the team's best chances. Giannis Poumpouridis won two bouts on referee stoppages to reach the 85 kg quarterfinal against an Uzbek opponent. Mikaelian says the referee invented two knockdowns in round two to push the judges into giving that round to the Uzbek boxer, evening the score. He says Poumpouridis dominated round three, yet the judges still gave the bout to his opponent. Poumpouridis finished fifth.

Petros Konstantinoudis took the bronze at 60 kg. In his semifinal against an Irish champion, Mikaelian says round one went to the Greek and round two to his rival, leaving that round level at 19-19. Konstantinoudis then scored a knockdown in round three, but the judges again sided with the opponent.

Mikaelian also called a close bout lost by Sofia Ntiliou marginal and said it went the other way. He added that Angeliki Sdounga won once before losing to a Russian champion, Dimitra Kapsimali lost to an experienced Tajik Asian champion, Antonis Propombas lost to a Chinese opponent, and Vasilis Eleftheriadis lost to a more experienced Algerian. He framed those as defeats, not scandals.

These are one side's accusations, and no response from the organizers or the referees has been reported. Whether Greece's federation takes the complaints further is not yet known.