Asian Games: Boxer Vikas Krishnan slams new scoring system

Incheon: Indian middleweight boxer Vikas Krishan reached the last eight Monday at the Asian Games and then aimed a knockout blow at the controversial new scoring system.

"I feel good, but boxing has gone into regression," Krishan told AFP after beating Kyrgyzstan`s Azamat Kanybek Uulu on points.

"We are not able to get the scores so we are not able to change our game because we don`t know if we are up or down."

Krishan won the gold in Guangzhou four years ago but said it was impossible to compare this Asiad with the 2010 edition.

"Yes I won there but four years ago scoring was different. It`s much more difficult now, because when we were down on the scores we were able to make a strategy about how to recover it.

"But now we don`t know. It`s the biggest problem we have."

There has been much confusion and frustration at the Seonhak Gymnasium boxing venue over the scoring and judging, with Thailand flyweight Sopida Satumrum crying foul after losing to Si Haijuan of China on Saturday. 

"If I had lost because I couldn`t really box, I would have accepted it," said Sopida in tears.

The confusion has not been helped by the official Games website and media information feed giving the wrong information until Sunday because of a change to the rule.

Those changes and the equally controversial abolition of men`s headguards are part of amateur boxing`s drive to mirror professional boxing more closely and raise its image. 

Britain`s former Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan has been critical of the new regulation saying exhausted fighters need protection.

"Headguards need to come back," Khan told AFP at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month. "Especially when you`ve got fighters who are fighting nearly five times a week." 

Several fights in Incheon have had to be stopped for cuts caused by accidental head clashes, which were extremely rare with headguards.

The Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) have said they will assess number of head cuts suffered at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games. They will also review the scoring system if necessary.