Last night I saw an unforgetable match between Michael Maze and Dimitij Ovtcharov. In the 2nd game Maze was 10-8 up but got faulted on his serve and penalised 1 point. Maze then hit the ball in anger which unfortunately riccoched into the referees chest! The ref then gave him a yellow card.
Maze was absolutely furious. I couldn't believe he was losing his cool so badly. He proceeded to lose the next point and the game 12-10. Many players would lose concentration and throw the match, but this had the opposite effect. He wiped the floor with Ovtcharov in the next game 11-1!!! After playing some inspired table tennis Maze eventually ran out of steam in the 7th, but I honestly don't know how he lost.
2 things then....
Maze's behaviour was pretty unacceptable. He was really disrespectful to the ref and acted agressively toward him...
but the ref was being really stringent about the service, and during today's Womens Olympic Final decisions apparently overshadowed and even marred what should have been the ultimate showcase of table tennis at it's very best
So what do you think? Are referees intefering too much, but in any case does this excuse poor manners?
Are referees being too strict?
Maze was absolutely furious. I couldn't believe he was losing his cool so badly. He proceeded to lose the next point and the game 12-10. Many players would lose concentration and throw the match, but this had the opposite effect. He wiped the floor with Ovtcharov in the next game 11-1!!! After playing some inspired table tennis Maze eventually ran out of steam in the 7th, but I honestly don't know how he lost.
2 things then....
Maze's behaviour was pretty unacceptable. He was really disrespectful to the ref and acted agressively toward him...
but the ref was being really stringent about the service, and during today's Womens Olympic Final decisions apparently overshadowed and even marred what should have been the ultimate showcase of table tennis at it's very best
So what do you think? Are referees intefering too much, but in any case does this excuse poor manners?
Are referees being too strict?
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