The boxing arena at Incheon saw a daylight robbery on Tuesday. The perpetrators of the crime were the judges. The victim was Sarita Devi, who was robbed of a place in the final in the women’s lightweight category after outgunning her rival Park Jina from South Korea. Everyone who saw the bout on live television or was present at the stadium was witness to the steal. Even the spectators booed the decision.

Right from the very beginning, the bout was a take-no-prisoner contest. The boxers stormed at each other with fists of fury. It was pretty 50:50. Yet all three judges ruled in favour of the Korean at the end of the first round. At this point, one thought, may be the Korean had landed more punches. And the judges, with a sharper ringside view, were able to see what others might have missed out on.

But in the second round, it was obvious – something was wrong. Sarita was clearly more aggressive landing more clear punches and jabs than her much younger opponent. It wasn’t just quantity – the Manipuri’s punches were cleaner, harder and more on target. Yet only two of the three judges ruled in her favour.

But the third round took the cake. Sarita went dancing out deluging her opponent with hooks, upper cuts and punches. The Korean flailed her arms desperately but was clearly outgunned, outmuscled and outboxed. By the time the round was over, she was bleeding from her nose. But horror of horrors, two judges ruled in the home girl’s favour. Even the foreign commentator was surprised.

Without getting into the new 10 points system here, it would suffice to say, Sarita should have won this round 3-0. Everything else was bias. The judges might have been watching an old video, certainly not this bout.

The fourth round again was closely fought – but all judges gave their nod to the Korean again. It was simple: Heads I win, tails you lose. Sarita is a seasoned pugilist. Like Mary Kom, she is a mom too. An Arjuna award winner, she has many international medals to her name, including a silver at Glasgow Commonwealth Games earlier this year. But there she stood in the centre of the ring in disbelief, absolutely helpless and totally gutted.

What do you do when you put your life into a gruelling sport and face such injustice?

The history of boxing is riddled with stories of bad and biased decisions. Over the years, attempts have been made to ensure cleaner and fairer results. But from what everyone saw at Incheon, a lot still needs to be done. This was the sort of decision that breaks a sportsperson’s heart and gives boxing a bad name.