War of words over basketball battle

Beijing Jinyu Basketball Club has been working with local public security departments in a bid to insure public order at Shougang Basketball Center, where the decisive fifth game in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) semi-final series between Beijing and Shanxi Zhongyu will take place on Wednesday evening.

The public security concerns come after the mass brawl involving Shanxi fans in the parking lot at Binhe Sports Center in Taiyuan Sunday evening.

After losing to Shanxi 100 to 102, the Beijing players were besieged by an angry mob of about 300 outraged Shanxi fans throwing bricks at the bus. The players were trapped for 90 minutes.

"From morning to afternoon, the only thing I did today was communicate with people from public security departments, attempting to work out proper plans to make sure there won't be a repeat of this behavior on Wednesday evening," said Yuan Chao, deputy general manager of Jinyu.

"It might be difficult, but we will try our best to insure the personal safety of Shanxi players and fans," Yuan said.

Referring to Monday evening's melee, Wang Jianguang, a publicity officer from Shanxi Zhongyu Basketball Club yesterday said "The Shanxi fans were very emotional and outraged, as they believed their team was being unfairly judged by the referees in the game."

Meanwhile, Zhongyu club president, Wang Xingjiang, was quoted by the Beijing Evening News as saying "We will start a brawl in Beijing, if we are bullied by the referees again."

He later denied saying this on the record.

According to Wang Jianguang, many fans and reporters in Shanxi now "are reluctant to go to Beijing, due to the worries about personal safety when they are in Beijing's home field."

Amid the chaos, a 21-year-old Shanxi fan surnamed Cao alleged that Jinyu's American point guard, Stephon Marbury, who previously played for Shanxi in 2010, had deliberately attacked him on the way out of the stadium.

"Marbury attacked Cao with a mineral bottle in his hand, and after Cao fell down, he kicked Cao on the jaw," said a report released by Taiyuan Public Security Bureau, the China News website said yesterday.

However, Wang Xingjiang admitted that the report by the local police, which was made based on descriptions given by eyewitnesses and security guards at the scene, is just speculation, "as the police failed to talk to Marbury."

Yuan said the accusation is "absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible," and is intended to prevent Marbury from playing in the return match Wednesday.

Since joining Jinyu in October, Marbury has played a crucial role in helping the team advance into the semi-finals for the first time in six years.

"I would never kick or punch a fan. That's not my character," said Marbury, who could not be reached by phone yesterday, on his Sina microblog.

Shanxi fans were reported to have thrown cigarette lighters into the court during a February 12 match against Guangdong Dongguan. A fan of the Shanxi team was accused of dazzling a rival player with a laser beam during another match against Beijing on March 4.