A couple of days ago, the media showed ugly scenes in the "friendly" basketball match between China and Brazil in Xuchang, China.The fight was triggered by a foul call against China which was protested by the Chinese players and coach. Play became rough until, finally, open fighting broke out.
The Chinese Basketball Association apologised to the Brazilian side afterwards and said its players are taking time to "deeply reflect". The players were made to attend classes on good sportsmanship.
This was not an isolated case of basketball violence in China. In July 2001, a brawl occurred in a match between China and Lebanon in Shanghai after the final buzzer. Fans threw objects at the Lebanese players, injuring several of them before the fight was broken up by police.
In August 2005, a nasty brawl ended the game in Beijing between China and Puerto Rico prematurely.Two Chinese players rushed off the bench to fight Puerto Rican players who had inflicted a hard foul on a Chinese player. Again, angry fans were involved.
I wonder if back then the players also took time to "deeply reflect" or were made to attend good sportsmanship classes.
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