Meretnyyazov (pictured top, during the bout) was widely criticised while officiating the last 16 fight in which Abdulhamidov hit the canvas six times in the third and final round but was still declared the winner as the referee refused to disqualify the Azeri despite his obvious attempts to waste time.

Both Abdulhamidov and Meretnyyazov were heavily booed by the crowd at ExCeL following the result, and a subsequent appeal from Japan to the AIBA proved successful, allowing Shimizu to proceed to the quarter-finals.

A statement said that AIBA Technical Delegates, the Competition Jury chairman, the Draw Commission chairman, and Referee and Judges Evaluators had unanimously decided to "expel referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov from the London 2012 Olympic Games with immediate effect".

It was also revealed that an international technical official involved in the bout, Aghajan Abiyev of Azerbaijan, has also been expelled "following a number of breaches of the AIBA Code of Conduct" around the fight.

"The decision was approved by the AIBA President and therefore Mr Abiyev has now left the AIBA Delegation's hotel," added the statement.

Aghajan Abiyev has been expelled from London 2012 for breaches of the AIBA Code of Conduct

"I deeply regret that we had to take these decisions," said AIBA President CK Wu.

"However, our main concern has been and will always be the protection of the integrity and fair-play of our competitions.

"I will take all possible steps to reinforce this."

The incident is an embarrassment to AIBA following the high-profile "cash-for-medals" allegations last year which also involved Azerbaijan.

The allegations from BBC Newsnight claimed that an individual from Azerbaijan paid $9 million (£6 million/€7 million) to the World Series Boxing (WSB), the professional tournament owned by AIBA, in exchange for two boxing Olympic gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics.

At the centre of the storm was WSB chief operating officer Ivan Khodabakhsh who allegedly facilitated the payment, but the issue was cleared following a special independent investigation set-up by Wu.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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