Cuban boxing judge Martin Barrientos kept Kellie Harrington’s dream of becoming only the third Irish boxer to win an Olympic gold medal alive on Thursday.
He scored the final round of a chess-like lightweight semi-final in favour of Harrington, and this ultimately proved decisive.
But it was a close call. Kurt Walker had been in a similar tight spot against American Duke Ragan in his medal fight.
The pendulum swung against the Lisburn fighter, whereas Harrington, the number one seed in the weight division, got the nod yesterday.
Unquestionably in close contests, it helps to be the seeded fighter. Psychologically, the judges can be influenced by the rankings.
But the vagaries of the judging in amateur boxing were laid bare in the Harrington/Seesondee fight.
Unlike the boxing tournament in Rio, plagued by allegations of widespread corruption in the selection of judges and referees and the scoring of contests, the tournament in Tokyo, run by a Task Force chosen by the International Olympic Committee, has been largely scandal-free.
Nonetheless, judging in the sport remains very subjective.
Nobody was surprised at how the Harrington/Seesondee contest turned out. It was as tight and tactical as everybody had anticipated.
It was the second high-stakes showdown between the pair. The duo clashed in the gold medal fight at the 2018 World Championships in New Delhi.
It was another chess-like affair that Harrington shaded 3-2 (29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 and 27-30).
Yesterday, fight referee Hichem Menchoui took the unprecedented step of twice instructing the two fighters to engage in the first round.
Twenty-nine-year-old Seesondee is a natural southpaw, which means she prefers to fight on the counter, whereas Harrington has the advantage of being able to fight from both a southpaw and orthodox stance.
All fights are scored by five judges who sit ringside; there are no action replays.
The maximum number of points a boxer can earn is 10. Unless a round is very one-sided, it is normal to score it 10-9.
An amateur fight is equivalent to a 100-metre sprint – a good start may not win you the race, but a bad start will almost certainly cost you.
Crucially, Judge 1 (Peru), Judge 2 (Russia), and Judge 4 (Cuba) all scored the first round in favour of Harrington. Judge 3 (Kazakhstan) and Judge 5 (Morocco) sided with the Thai fighter.
So, Harrington was up on a majority of the scorecards after the first three minutes.
Seesondee did better in round two, mainly in the early stages, but Harrington corrected with two eye-catching shots near the end of the round, which may have been the most significant moments in the fight.
But the judges were divided on the outcome.
Judge 1 and Judge 2 gave Harrington the round, meaning she had a two-point advantage on both their cards (20-18), which effectively meant their third-round score wouldn’t alter the outcome even if they opted for Seesondee 10-9.
In the event, that’s what they did, but Harrington was still 29-28 ahead overall on both their cards.
Judge 3 sided with Kellie as Judge 4 scored it for Seesondee, which meant the boxers were tied 19 apiece on their two scorecards. The Moroccan judge again sided with Seesondee giving her an unassailable 20-18 advantage on his card.
So, Harrington was effectively 2-1 ahead after two rounds. But the fight was still in the balance. Her fate rested with now rested with the judges from Kazakhstan and Cuba.
The former opted for Seesondee in the third round, but the Cuban judge sided with Harrington, enough to secure her a 29-28 verdict on his card and a guaranteed silver medal.
But it was that close.