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Last Updated: Mar 16th, 2009 - 15:42:05 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - 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 game in which China was leading comfortably.
The bad feeling spilled into the stands where 3,000 home fans hurled insults and missiles, the China Daily reported on Saturday. Officials abandoned the game as the visitors fled to the locker room, one shielding his head with a plastic chair.
Chinese players Li Nan and Mo Ke had reacted after seeing teammate Yi Jianlian fouled hard by Puerto Rican centre Manuel Narvaez, the newspaper said.
"Fists, plastic cups, water bottles and even a fan's shoe went flying during the fracas with China's Yi Jianlian, Tang Zhengdong, Mo Ke and Li Nan right in the middle of it," the official China Daily reported on Saturday.
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 behaviour is very disgusting and leaves an extremely bad impression," the China Sports Daily quoted association spokesman Li Jinsheng as saying.
NBA superstar Yao Ming, out with a toe injury, watched from the sidelines as the melee erupted but took no part.
"The Chinese basketball team should learn a lesson from this incident," Yao was quoted as saying by www.sports.sohu.com.
Victory in the Stankovic Cup game, abandoned with China ahead 91-80, was later awarded to the hosts. A basketball association official said China should apologise to fans.
State media railed about the team's behaviour.
In a story headlined "China suffers night of shame", China Daily said the brawl "badly hurt the growing reputation of Chinese basketball".
"China and Puerto Rico stage 'free for all'," said the Guangzhou Daily.
It said they had turned the Capital Gymnasium, a 2008 Olympic venue, into "the Palace of Auburn Hills arena", where Detroit players and fans brawled near the end of a game against the Indiana Pacers in November 2004.
Three thousand fans hurled abuse along with drinks, plastic bottles, yoghurt and popcorn at the Puerto Rican team as it headed off-court.
"This is the ugliest scene I have ever experienced in my life," 31-year-old fan Wang Kai was quoted as saying.
"The Puerto Rico players have travelled more than 30 hours to come to China and they are our guests. As the host team, how can we treat them with such disdain?"
It was not the first instance of violence for Chinese basketball.In Shanghai in July 2001, China and Lebanon clashed just 10 days after Beijing won the right to host the Olympics.
Both benches emptied after the final buzzer of a physical game, Chinese fans threw water bottles and other objects and several Lebanese players were bloodied before police broke it up.
In other sports, overzealous Chinese supporters have frequently embarrassed the authorities. Soccer in particular has seen a number of violent incidents.
Fans rioted in Beijing in 1985 after the national soccer team lost a World Cup qualifier against tiny Hong Kong, missing out on the 1986 finals in Mexico.
In August 2004, angry fans went on a rampage in the capital after the national team lost the Asian Cup final to Japan.
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