NEW DELHI - The scales at the boxing weigh-in for the Commonwealth Games gave faulty readings, causing some competitors to panic a day before the start of the event.
Two Australian boxers were shown as overweight after they got on the scales, surprising the coaches, the Australian Associated Press reported Monday.
"The scales said they were 700 grams overweight so they had go and sweat it off," Australia assistant coach Don Abnett said. "But when they got back it then said they were two (kilograms) heavier than before.
"It is ridiculous and now we have boys who have lost too much weight, which is not good."
Irate coaches demanded the scales be checked and a 50-kilogram weight was found to weigh 51.4 kg. Because of the mix-up, a second weigh-in has been scheduled for Tuesday.
"It is a farce, but there is not a lot more we can do," Abnett said. "I have never seen this before."
Australia captain Luke Woods, who said he was a recorded as being a kilogram overweight when he got on the scale, described the glitch as "very big drama."
"Boxers all over the world, they drop four or five kilos of their natural weight just to make the division and they are already dehydrated and haven't eaten or drunk in 24 hours," Woods told AAP. "When they are told they have to lose another kilo on top of that, it is like trying to get blood from a stone and very damaging for the body and puts us at risk."
Woods said he and his teammates all made weight before heading to the official Games weigh-in.
"So I went to the sauna and for a run and came back and I was still over so I knew something had to be wrong," he said.
Some of Woods' teammates went into a panic.
"There was boxers everywhere running, and really getting worried when they weighed in a second time to find it had either made no difference or they weighed more," Woods said. "It was crazy."
