Taiwan Beer yesterday said that it was pulling out of the Straits Cup basketball tournament over an incident in which one of its players suffered a broken nose after being elbowed in the face by a Jiangsu Nangang Dragons player on Monday.
Citing a complete lack of sportsmanship from Jiangsu defender Meng Da as the reason for their withdrawal, Taiwan Beer said its players were now afraid of their Chinese opponents.
Chinese basketball authorities yesterday ordered Meng to cut short his visit to Taiwan and return to China.
Meng, who elbowed Taiwan Beer center Wu Tai-hao and broke his nose during a game in Miaoli on Monday night, left the country later yesterday.
Prior to his departure, Meng offered an apology to Wu and wished him a quick recovery.
The incident occurred with two-and-a-half minutes left in the game when Wu set up a pick for a teammate, leading to contact with Meng, who spun around and retaliated with an elbow to the bridge of Wu's nose.
Meng was sent off and the organizers of the tournament said that he would be barred from playing in any of the tournament's final three games in Hualien, which were originally scheduled to begin yesterday.
Following Taiwan Beer's pullout, the tournament, which was initially to pitch two Taiwanese teams against two Chinese teams in six games over three days, was downsized to two games over two days.
Yesterday's result:
* Huangjin Shandong def. Dacin Tigers 76-70 (progress: 24-17, 41-37, 58-52).
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