Basket-brawl leads to benching
By Li Xinran |
October 14, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Chinese Basketball Association yesterday suspended the men's national team following their overnight brawl with a Brazilian team and apologized to the visitors.
The whole team halted its training camp and players involved in the incident are facing penalty, which will be announced after the CBA finishes the investigation.
Tuesday's match was the third one between the two teams in Xuchang, in central China's Henan Province.
"The CBA apologizes to the Brazilian side and all other parties over the incident which created such serious consequences," Li Jinsheng, Chinese Basketball Association vice chairman, said in a statement.
"We have suspended the national team pending further investigation. Players, coaches and the team manager who were involved in the incident will be punished," Li said.
The Chinese team was preparing for the Asian Games next month in Guangdong Province.
Several players exchanged punches and kicks just 1:06 minutes into the game as the Chinese protested some dubious calls.
The game was stopped and the Brazilians were heading to the locker room. The Chinese players pursued to the retreating visitors, and the two sides fought again.
The association said the team's preparations for the Asian Games were put on hold to give players time to "deeply reflect."
The bad blood started when China's Zhang Qingpeng, who scored 24 points in their previous game, hit the ground head-first after a strong challenge, and was carried off in a stretcher and taken to the hospital with a concussion.
The China coach, Bob Donewald, received two technical fouls with a minute left in the first quarter for arguing the play.
Play got increasingly rough until open exchanges of kicks and punches broke out and players from both benches charged onto the court.
The teams were separated but China's players then attacked their opponents as the Brazilians headed to the locker room.
The Brazilians refused to return to the court or play yesterday's scheduled fourth game in their series.
"We really didn't want to pick a fight but we had to protect ourselves," Donewald was quoted as saying on sina.com. "One of our players was sent to the hospital with concussion. Their (Brazil) behavior is unprofessional, this is not a national side, only a club team."
However, the association shouldered the blame. Officials even went to the airport to deliver an apology to the Brazilian squad, which took the same flight back to Beijing as their Chinese counterparts yesterday.
Earlier, they went to the Brazil Embassy to apologize.
The whole team halted its training camp and players involved in the incident are facing penalty, which will be announced after the CBA finishes the investigation.
Tuesday's match was the third one between the two teams in Xuchang, in central China's Henan Province.
"The CBA apologizes to the Brazilian side and all other parties over the incident which created such serious consequences," Li Jinsheng, Chinese Basketball Association vice chairman, said in a statement.
"We have suspended the national team pending further investigation. Players, coaches and the team manager who were involved in the incident will be punished," Li said.
The Chinese team was preparing for the Asian Games next month in Guangdong Province.
Several players exchanged punches and kicks just 1:06 minutes into the game as the Chinese protested some dubious calls.
The game was stopped and the Brazilians were heading to the locker room. The Chinese players pursued to the retreating visitors, and the two sides fought again.
The association said the team's preparations for the Asian Games were put on hold to give players time to "deeply reflect."
The bad blood started when China's Zhang Qingpeng, who scored 24 points in their previous game, hit the ground head-first after a strong challenge, and was carried off in a stretcher and taken to the hospital with a concussion.
The China coach, Bob Donewald, received two technical fouls with a minute left in the first quarter for arguing the play.
Play got increasingly rough until open exchanges of kicks and punches broke out and players from both benches charged onto the court.
The teams were separated but China's players then attacked their opponents as the Brazilians headed to the locker room.
The Brazilians refused to return to the court or play yesterday's scheduled fourth game in their series.
"We really didn't want to pick a fight but we had to protect ourselves," Donewald was quoted as saying on sina.com. "One of our players was sent to the hospital with concussion. Their (Brazil) behavior is unprofessional, this is not a national side, only a club team."
However, the association shouldered the blame. Officials even went to the airport to deliver an apology to the Brazilian squad, which took the same flight back to Beijing as their Chinese counterparts yesterday.
Earlier, they went to the Brazil Embassy to apologize.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
