The Hindu : Sport : China fines players & coaches for brawl

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China fines players & coaches for brawl

BEIJING: China's basketball association fined a series of coaches and players in the national team on Friday after a bench-clearing brawl put an end to a friendly match with Brazil.

The fight erupted on Tuesday night in central Henan province and has received widespread media attention, while video footage of players throwing wild punches and kicks has circulated on the Internet.

China's American coach Bob Donewald received the stiffest fine of 50,000 yuan ($7,500), while team official Zhang Xiong was given a 30,000 yuan penalty, according to a Chinese Basketball Association statement.

Both Donewald and Zhang were suspended from national team training and given written reprimands. Donewald also issued an apology.

National team stars Zhu Fangyu, Ding Jinhui and Su Wei were fined 30,000 yuan each and suspended from training, while six other players were each fined 20,000 yuan.

No game suspensions were meted out, however, meaning all involved will be allowed to play in next month's Asian Games barring any subsequent punishments given by basketball's global ruling body FIBA, state press reported.

The CBA has passed a report on the brawl to FIBA and said it would respect FIBA's opinion on how to handle the incident, a CBA statement said.

The CBA also punished the game referees and technical officials, suspending each from officiating at between two and five matches.

The two teams were playing the third game of a warm-up series tied at one win each when the brawl erupted early in the first quarter. The series was aimed at helping China prepare for the Asian Games.

The bad blood started after point guard Zhang Qingpeng suffered a concussion while taking a hard screen from a Brazilian player, and Donewald was assessed two technical fouls for arguing the play.

“In the first play of the game, Zhang Qingpeng, who had 24 points in the first game, they knocked him out... he's in the hospital with a concussion,” Donewald told journalists after the match.

“From there, the game started back up and it got more physical. They were playing dirty, and our players started to defend themselves. We don't condone fighting, we were trying to defend ourselves.

“I was disappointed the referees didn't protect our players,” he said. — AFP

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