A basketball game between China and visiting Puerto Rico deteriorated into a mass brawl that state media denounced as a "night of shame," saying it set a bad example for the 2008 Olympic hosts.
The fighting erupted at Beijing Capital Gymnasium on Friday night after two Chinese players charged off the bench to fight Puerto Rican players in the dying moments of a Stankovic Cup game in which China was leading.
The bad feeling spilled into the stands where 3,000 home fans hurled abuse along with drinks, plastic bottles, yoghurt and popcorn, local media reported yesterday. Officials abandoned the game as the visitors fled to the locker room, one shielding his head with a plastic chair.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chinese players Li Nan (李楠) and Mo Ke (莫科) had reacted after seeing teammate Yi Jianlian (易建聯) fouled hard by Puerto Rican center Manuel Narvaez, the China Daily said.
"Fists, plastic cups, water bottles and even a fan's shoe went flying during the fracas with China's Yi Jianlian, Tang Zhengdong (唐正東), Mo Ke and Li Nan right in the middle of it," the daily said.
China's basketball association deplored the violence as setting a poor example just three years before Beijing hosts the summer Olympics, and said it would adopt measures to prevent such violence from recurring.
"Such behavior is very disgusting and leaves an extremely bad impression," the China Sports Daily quoted association spokesman Li Jinsheng (
NBA superstar Yao Ming (
"The Chinese basketball team should learn a lesson from this incident," Yao was quoted as saying by www.sports.sohu.com.
Victory in the game, abandoned with China ahead 91-80, was later awarded to the hosts. A basketball association official said China should apologize to fans.
In a story headlined "China suffers night of shame," the China Daily said the brawl "badly hurt the growing reputation of Chinese basketball."
"This is the ugliest scene I have ever experienced in my life," 31-year-old fan Wang Kai said.
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