Commonwealth Sport chiefs have dismissed allegations of corruption and racism made by Aziz Abdul, the grandson of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, following his disqualification for a head-butt in the super-heavyweight boxing quarter-final. Abdul was representing Uganda but lost to England's Damar Thomas after being penalised multiple times by Argentinian referee Manuel Vilarino.
Abdul's complaints and response
Abdul received a point deduction for a standing count in the first round, another for repeatedly punching on the break, and was subsequently disqualified for a blatant head-butt. He claimed the decision was unfair, stating: 'Of course it’s unfair. When you watch the previous fights of England, their boxers play a lot of bullshit. They cannot judge them wrong. I took a light punch and they counted. I landed a heavy punch on him and they deducted my points and warned me.'
He added: 'I’m a black African, I know. It’s God’s plan. I don’t know why the officials are scared about this fight. Why can’t they let this fight continue? All I can say about this is the referee’s decision is not right and I am not happy.'
Commonwealth Sport chief's rebuttal
However, Dr Donald Rukare, president of Commonwealth Sport and also from Uganda, contradicted Abdul. He said: 'We at Commonwealth Sport believe that every athlete is treated fairly in a non discriminatory manner. We are inclusive. I think that was probably something said in the heat of the moment.' Rukare added: 'As far as we’re concerned, we have a good relationship with World Boxing, the athletes are treated fairly, so as far as we’re concerned it was a fair playing field. I don’t represent Uganda here but I’m sure that that matter will be handled appropriately in terms of our colleague’s conduct and the appropriate channels that we have.'
Insiders noted that African nations are guaranteed eight boxing medals at these Games – two from Lesotho, two from Ghana, three from Namibia and one from Zambia – making it one of the continent’s best-ever returns from a Commonwealth Games.
Katie Sadleir defends TNT Sports coverage
Meanwhile, Katie Sadleir, chief executive of Commonwealth Games, defended TNT Sports’ coverage of Glasgow 2026 after widespread criticism on social media regarding the switch from the BBC. Sadleir did not comment on reports that TNT is attracting daytime peaks of just 120,000 viewers, whereas the BBC’s coverage of Birmingham 2022 regularly exceeded five million.
She said: 'We are really proud of the decision that we made in terms of WBD and TNT. TNT has been a fantastic partner in terms of ensuring every single athlete has coverage. And to pay £4.99 to get 600 hours of television coverage, I think that’s a fantastic first step towards a different way of looking at it.' Sadleir expressed hope that the BBC would bid for the Amedabad Games in 2030, adding: 'The BBC will definitely be part of that mix and they were definitely part of the mix for these Games.'
