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NBA's Krstic released after mass brawl
Source: Agencies |
August 21, 2010, Saturday
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SERBIAN player Nenad Krstic, a center with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, was released yesterday after being held in police custody overnight following a remarkable brawl during a match with Greece.
The last game of the Acropolis tournament was abandoned with 2:40 to go and Greece leading by one point when the fight broke out.
The brawl broke out a week before the world championships in Turkey, where both teams will play.
A stunned crowd of about 5,000 at the Athens Olympic Arena watched players from both teams exchange punches and kicks. Two or three spectators entered the fray but were quickly shoved out of the arena.
Krstic grabbed Greece forward Antonis Fotsis by the throat and threw a chair toward Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who was pursuing him. The chair hit Yannis Bouroussis, who had not played in the game because of a hand injury, and left him with blood trickling from a wound on the side of his head.
The fight began when Fotsis had moved threateningly against Serbia guard Milos Teodosic, who had fouled him. The players continued fighting in the tunnel leading from the arena to the locker rooms before eventually being separated.
Krstic returned to his hotel after being released and was due to leave Athens for Belgrade later yesterday. The rest of the Serbia team returned earlier, and coach Dusan Ivkovic said upon arrival at Belgrade airport that the brawl "is a shame for everyone."
"This shouldn't have happened," said Ivkovic, who is due to take over Greek club Olympiakos next season. "Relations with the Greeks are now very bad."
Krstic accused the Greeks of starting the fight.
"I don't know the rules, but I hope I won't be punished," he said. "An (act of) stupidity was committed, and I hope they will not punish us. The Greeks started the brawl, there were no guards and the (Greek) fans entered the court ... If they punish me, they must do it to others as well."
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