GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- What was supposed to be Christian Isaiah Lagnason's fourth gold medal in the Batang Pinoy here at the Antonio Acharon Sports Complex turned into an absolute nightmare on Wednesday.
Minutes after conquering the boys' 12-13 200-meter butterfly with a time of two minutes and 16.36 seconds, Lagnason began to cry after he was disqualified due to a false start after he moved before the buzzer sounded.
Lagnason's coach Nick Dacera said they are working appealing the verdict with video evidence.
"They told us there was an extra movement before the buzzer that alledgedly disqualified him. We will try to present video evidence and check what we can do," Dacera said.
However, according to Batang Pinoy aquatics tournament director Richard Luna whatever the verdict of the judges in the competition is final.
"It doesn't matter if you are the no. 1 swimmer or the slowest swimmer. As long as the swimmer moved according to the referee, the swimmer gets a DQ," Luna said.
"The problem here is that there are no cameras. That would be a judgement call. If they saw someone move before the start of the race, they will file a disqualification report."