A couple of years ago I started taking martial arts classes and i joined a tournament the first year. I trained pretty hard for it. I knew my advantage was speed and stamina, so my plan was exhaust my opponent by running around all over the place and picking them apart. The weapons of choice were padded sticks but wore a big metal helmet to protect our heads.
The time came for my first fight and I was up against a larger, stronger, opponent. I had faced him before in a sparring match so I was pretty confident about my chances against him. When the ref gave the signal I didn't just begin to fight--I danced. I was all over the place. moving in and striking then quickly moving out of range. Sure, he got me sometimes, but for every time he hit me, I hit him back at least 2 or 3 times.
When the match ended they went to the judges. All three declared my opponent as the winner. What? Unanimous decision? Did I do that poorly? I'd accept a split decision loss, but unanimous? That didn't make any sense to me considering how dominant I felt during the match. Oh well, maybe it's a fluke and it's just a friendly tournament anyway.
After this defeat, I was moved to the loser's bracket, yet I faced a more experienced, skilled, faster opponent. Lucky for me he wasn't in top condition and a little out of shape so I decided to try the same strategy again. I weaved in and out, but so did he and we both got in some good attacks, with both of us making use of the entire ring. We both tried not to waste energy or allowing ourselves to stand there and take punishment. In the end I thought it must've been a great fight (probably one of the best fights of the tournament) that would be hard to call. However, when the judges called it again it was a unanimous victory for my opponent again. What? What the heck was going on? I felt like I performed well yet in both of my matches, none of the three judges gave me any points.
Disqualified, I sat down in disbelief and watched the rest of the matches, and I
slowly began to understand what was going wrong for me. The judges were giving the matches to the agressor. No matter how much damage the person took, if it looked like they were more agressive, they won the judges' votes. To the judges it looked like I was running away. It didn't matter that I was taking far less damage than my opponents, but my method of darting in, getting in a few quick hits then retreating back to a safe distance, didn't appeal to the judges at all.
In the end, the finalists of my division were my first opponent and another guy who was new to the martial art. Their styles were similar: barge in and use your strength to get in good hits, even at the cost of absorbing a few hits. This works fine in a tournament I guess but in real life if you get hit with one of these sticks that's all it takes to put you out. So I don't get why the tournament was scored in a way that rewards the person who is always attacking and leaving themselves open.
So that's when I said I'm never joining another tournament like this again and I have major beef with the judges. I give credit to my opponents, but in my mind I did not lose to them (at least not unanimously). I blame the judges.
although I've asked to see the original videos of my fight to prove my point, they have never been released to this very day.
VERDICT: ALL YOUR SOUR GRAPES ARE BELONG TO US
No comments:
Post a Comment