INCHEON — Indian boxer Sarita Devi stood on the podium during the medal ceremony at the Seonhak Gymnasium, Wednesday, but didn’t bend down for the bronze medal. Instead, she took it and slipped it around South Korea’s silver medalist Park Jin-a’s neck. The Korean appeared too stunned to immediately react.

The abrupt refusal came as the Indian boxer lost a decion to Park in the semifinals of the women’s lightweight class on the previous day at the Seonhak Gymnasium.

“I felt that I should not accept the medal because I deserved to be in the finals,” Sarita said after exiting the arena. “I’m ready to face any repercussions. I did not feel like accepting the medal and so I didn’t.”

It was the latest in a series of controversies in which South Koreans’ achievements have been tainted with claims of a “home advantage” gone too far.

After the match, many questioned the judging, some calling it “dubious” and too much “in favor of the home boxers.”

The judges, none of whom were from Asia, scored the three-round bout by identical 39-37 margins.

When Park was announced as the winner, Sarita wept uncontrollably and her husband Thoiba Singh rushed to the judges’ bench and shouted, “You’ve killed boxing.”

India lodged a protest, but World body AIBA’s technical committee rejected the protest, saying “rules bar any complaints against judges, and protests can only be filed against the decision of the referees.”

India chief boxing coach Blas Iglesias Fernandes said the 3-0 decision against Sarita smacked of a fix.

“Only dishonest people can do something like this,” he said. “It’s a clear case of a pre-determined judgment. In fact, the opponent should have been given a standing count on many occasions, which never happened.”

“The host is clearly taking advantage,” Sarita said. “I’ve left my one-year-old son at home to compete here, and it took just one minute for the judges to spoil everything for me.”

Olympic Council of Asia delegates and boxing officials at the venue did not react to the Indian furor or the protest.

The judges were Mohamed Braham of Tunisia, Albino Foti of Italy, and Mariuisz Jozef Gorny of Poland.

The rejected bronze medal is now in the custody of organizers.

In another boxing event, Devendro Singh of India failed to advance to the semifinals after a loss to South Korea’s Shin Jong-hun in the 49 kg quarterfinal. India once again found fault in the judging.

“I wish these judges could be sacked,” India’s Cuban trainer Bi Fernandez said bluntly. “I suppose the only ones who thought the Korean had won were the judges.”

The wrestling event was also stained with controversy.

South Korea’s Jung Ji-hyun claimed his first Asiad gold in the men’s 71 kg Greco-Roman event with a 9-0 win over Uzbek opponent Dilshodjon Turdiev.

But in the semifinals, the judge had announced Iranian wrestler Saeid Abdevali as winner when Korean officials protested the results.

“Koreans have been proven to ignore all conditions of a fair competition only to gain more medals,” said an Iranian wrestling fan. “I’m not exaggerating. If you take a short look at the match you will see that I’m right. Judgments are blind.”

Along with combat sports, football matches involving the South Korean squad have been also criticized for similar reasons. Referees’ disputed calls have given advantages to the Koreans and led them to the final.

Thailand’s men’s football coach on Tuesday went sarcastic after his side was beaten 2-0 to the hosts in the semifinal match. He was especially unhappy about the referee’s decision to give the Koreans a chance for a penalty kick, which led to the second goal.

“I was far from the spot, but players said it’s not a penalty. However, but the referee called it a penalty. I hope South Korea wins this competition, but not by penalty kicks,” the coach, Kiatisuk Senamuang, said of penalty kicks that South Korean captain Jang Hyun-soo scored on his side’s way to the finals.

Two days earlier, when the South Koreans beat the Japanese 1-0, Jang also scored a decider from the penalty spot in the 88th minute.

Japan’s coach Makoto Teguramori also expressed his regret over the game, saying “our side would have won the game if there had been no penalty kicks awarded,” although he did not specifically bring to surface the issue of the fairness over the referee’s call.

After Tuesday’s game, a number of photos insulting the Korean national flag and comments cursing the penalty decision were posted on the Korea Football Association’s homepage.

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AP materials were used in this article.