Cuban attacks referee

BEIJING – Cuba’s Angel Matos deliberately kicked a referee square in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal match, prompting the World Taekwondo Federation to recommend he be banned for life.

“We didn’t expect anything like what you have witnessed to occur,” said WTF secretary general Yang Jin-suk. “I am at a loss for words.”

Yang also recommended Matos’ coach be banned.

Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 left in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan’s Arman Chilmanov. Matos was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.

Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden, who will require stitches in his lip. Matos spat on the floor and was escorted out.

“This is an insult to the Olympic vision, an insult to the spirit of taekwondo and, in my opinion, an insult to mankind,” Yang said.

Hammon medals

Becky Hammon never intended to make a political statement. She simply wanted to play basketball in the Olympics.

Despite criticism she absorbed by deciding to play for Russia here, Hammon said Saturday that the joy of helping her new team unite to win the bronze medal outweighed all the negatives.

“For me, I’ve worked just as hard for this medal as a gold one, so to me it might as well be,” Hammon said after scoring a team-high 22 points while leading Russia to a 94-81 victory over China at Wukesong Arena.

“I wanted to be a positive leader for them and encourage them and just help them believe in themselves. I think if you watched us just a few weeks ago, we didn’t have much belief in ourselves.”

Weightlifter expelled

Ukrainian weightlifter Igor Razoronov was kicked out of the Olympics, the sixth athlete caught for doping during the games.

Gymnasts wait

Officials from the International Gymnastics Federation pored over documents Saturday in hopes of putting to rest, once and for all, persistent questions about the ages of all but one member of the gold-medal, six-person Chinese women’s team. Chinese gymnastics officials handed over passports, I.D. cards and family residence.

Gymnasts have to turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible. Some media reports and online documents have suggested they could be as young as 14.