FIFA World Cup 2014: Suarez told FIFA panel bite was not deliberate

The panel wrote that the bite was "deliberate, intentional and without provocation"

Update: 2014-06-28 19:28 GMT
Uruguayan player, Luis Suarez (Photo: AP)

Rio De Janeiro: Luis Suarez claimed to FIFA's disciplinary panel that he did not deliberately bite Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

The Uruguay striker writes in Spanish that "in no way it happened how you have described, as a bite or intent to bite." The player's defense is in paragraph 6 of FIFA's ruling. Suarez says "after the impact ... I lost my balance, making my body unstable and falling on top of my opponent.

Also Read: FIFA World Cup 2014: Chiellini says Suarez's ban for biting him is excessive

"At that moment I hit my face against the player leaving a small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth," Suarez writes. The seven-man panel writes that the bite was "deliberate, intentional and without provocation." Suarez was banned for nine Uruguay matches and four months from all football. He was also fined 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,000).

The panel, chaired by former Switzerland international Claudio Sulser, included members from the Cook Islands, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Panama, South Africa and Singapore. The ruling confirmed that referee Marco Rodriguez of Mexico acknowledged in his match report that he missed Suarez's bite. So did his two assistants and the fourth official. "I haven't seen the incident because the ball was in another sector of the pitch," Rodriguez writes in paragraph No. 4 of witness submissions in the 11-page document.

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