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Olympic champ Sa fined for assault, avoids jail – Metro US

Olympic champ Sa fined for assault, avoids jail

Olympic champ Sa fined for assault, avoids jail
Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) – Former Olympic weightlifting champion Sa Jae-hyouk has been fined 10 million won ($8,667.39) for an assault that left a fellow lifter in hospital with facial injuries.

South Korean Sa, who won gold in the men’s 77kg category at the 2008 Beijing Games, has already received a 10-year ban from the Korea Weightlifting Federation after assaulting Hwang Woo-man on New Year’s Eve.

The suspension ruled the 31-year-old out of the Rio Olympics and effectively forced him into retirement.

Yonhap news quoted Judge Lee Da-woo of Chuncheon district court as saying on Thursday that the “victim was severely injured so Sa’s crime is quite serious.

“Nonetheless, the sentence was decided taking into consideration Sa has confessed his wrongdoing and deeply regrets what he did. In addition, he has been suspended and will miss the Olympics.”

Yonhap said that since Sa avoided a jail sentence he would still be able to collect his monthly one million won stipend awarded to winners of international competitions.

(Reporting by Lee Jeong Eun, Writing by Peter Rutherford; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)