“It’s an unfortunate case, an accident that was not intentional”, justifies the referee after the exclusion of Miyu Kato

2023-06-05 20:40:02

Par Gilles Festor

Posted
yesterday at 7:06 p.m.
,
Update yesterday at 8:40 p.m.

Miyu Kato consoled by her partner Aldila Sutjiadi on Sunday after their disqualification. Francetvsports

Referee Rémy Azémar, who disqualified the Miyu Kato-Aldila Sutjiadi pair on Sunday after a ball was thrown at a pick-up, explained a decision that is debated at Roland-Garros.

On Sunday, Japanese player Miyu Kato and her partner Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from the women’s doubles draw for an unintentional throwing of the ball which ended up in the head of a young ballboy who burst into tears in the aftermath.

Read alsoRoland-Garros 2023: a pair of doubles excluded for having hit a ball collector in the head

The decision of the tournament which took several minutes to fall after intervention on the court by Rémy Azémar, the referee, caused a lot of ink to flow. Especially since the player, who apologized for her gesture to the ball collector, then on social networks, just like her partner, had to return her prize money (21,500 euros). She had left the court in tears after this unfortunate incident.

Several players, including Alizé Cornet, have supported Miyu Kato. “ It’s unfair, it’s a bad decision. I hope the tournament will give him back his money. The opposite would be crazy. It shouldn’t have happened. Yesterday (Sunday), we reached a peak of injustice. Especially Kato!…

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