China fans asked to respect ref call that cost team Olympic gold

Su celebrates during a medal ceremony for the men’s snowboard slopestyle event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, on Feb 7, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. The hashtag ‘Su Yiming coach calls for public to stop criticism’ was the top trending topic on Weibo early Friday, with many users continuing to call for Chinese officials and state media to lodge complaints to change the result of the competition. — AP

The Japanese coach of a Chinese teenage snowboarder at the centre of a Winter Olympics scoring controversy has appealed to the public to go easy on the judges, after a senior official admitted that there was an error in judgment that cost China a gold.

Chinese fans cried foul after 17-year-old Su Yiming finished second in the men’s snowboard slopestyle event on Feb 7, with Canadian Max Parrot taking gold, despite being the first-ever competitor to pull off an 1800-degree aerial stunt in the Olympics.