Paris (France): Italian rower Giacomo Perini lost his Paralympics bronze medal after he was announced disqualified for being found guilty of having a mobile phone on his boat during the rowing competition here on Sunday. Erik Horrie of Australia was promoted from fourth place, with Britain’s Benjamin Pritchard having won gold and Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi taking silver.
The 28-year-old Perini finished third in the PR1 men’s single sculls final, the classification where athletes who can’t use their legs, can compete and are allowed to row with their arms and shoulders as the seat is fixed, but his joy was short-lived as World Rowing later announced his disqualification. However, the athlete said that it was an oversight and he never used it to communicate.
"In the final of the PR1 men’s singles, the Italian athlete was found to be using communications equipment during the race, in violation of rule 28 and Appendix R2, Bye-Law of rule 28," a World Rowing statement said.
The Italian stated that it was an oversight, that he left his phone in a small bag on the boat which also contained a bottle of water, and disagreed with the wording of the statement, saying he was not in breach of the rule. "They didn’t ‘find’ me simply because I never used the mobile phone on the boat," Perini told ANSA.
"I gave the phone to the jury so that they could see that the last call was from the night before, with the psychologist. The rules do not say that you cannot bring the phone, but that you cannot communicate," he added.
The rule reads that no communication with the crew is prohibited from outside the boat using any electric or electronic gadget.
The Italian Rowing Federation has appealed which was immediately rejected by the Court for Arbitration of Sport and later quipped that they will approach the World Rowing Executive Board by preparing another appeal on the decision.
