Sports / Games News |
Youngster gets the chop in Doha karate competition(Reuters)Updated: 2006-12-13 09:16
Thirteen-year-old Haya Samir Jumaa punched and kicked her way to the quarter-finals of the Asian Games karate contest, before getting the chop for being too young. The United Arab Emirates youngster had been due to fight Nepal's Sulochana Sijakhwah in the last eight of the women's kata event when officials disqualified her. Asia's karate federation have set the minimum age limit at 16. While competition manager Mohammad Al Rumihi said that age disqualifications "happen all the time", the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) was furious. "The decision of the Asian Karate Federation to disqualify the athlete after completing two matches is totally not acceptable to the OCA," Husain Al Musallam, director general of the Olympic Council of Asia, told a news conference. "In the Asian Games, we don't have age limit or qualification," he said. "The competitions are conducted according to the OCA constitution, not the Asian federation rules." Jumaa, who turned 13 in November, is not even the youngest competitor at the December 1-15 Games. Qatari 10-year-old Alaa Shouhdy competed in sailing and 12-year-old Ali Abdin is part of the host nation's water polo squad.
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