The Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) removed two-time Olympian Donnie Geisler from all of the sport’s activities in the country amid the legal battle between the two parties.

The PTA’s sanctions committee declared Geisler a persona non grata, meaning that the federation would not recognize any transactions made by Geisler within the sport.

“It is recommended that Donald David “Donnie” Geisler III be expelled from the Philippine Taekwondo Association and that all rights and privileges granted to him as a PTA member deemed forfeited and terminated,” said the decision made on Monday, September 21.

This comes after Geisler filed multiple complaints against the PTA in the Philippine Competition Commission for “various discriminatory and anti-competitive practices” and at the Parañaque prosecutor’s office for libel complaints.

Geisler, who represented the country in the 2000 Sydney and the 2004 Athens Olympics, released his own statement on Tuesday, September 22, saying that the decision was “baseless and intended to create leverage against me.”

“The truth is on my side and I will continue this uphill battle until such time that discriminatory actions are stopped and justice is served,” said Geisler.

Geisler’s decision to seek legal action came after national taekwondo jins Samuel Morrison and Arven Alcantara were pardoned by PTA chief executive officer Sung Chon Hong, who had penalized the two athletes for guesting in the Olympian’s online training session. 

Geisler also claimed that PTA secretary-general Rocky Samson committed 3 counts of libel and two counts of cyber libel for his statements made on Philstar and Radyo Pilipinas 2 last July. – Rappler.com