Thursday, August 18, 2011

When Sports Diplomacy Goes Bad


Vice President Joe Biden's trip to China is at risk of being over-shadowed by an on-court brawl at an exhibition basketball game  between the Georgetown Hoyas and the Chinese professional Bayi Rockets (see above).  ABC News has details:
At the same time that Vice President Biden is in China to work on relations with that country, another American institution, The Georgetown men’s basketball team, wasn’t helping the cause.

An exhibition game between Georgetown and the Chinese professional team Bayi Rockets “deteriorated into a melee during which players exchanged blows, chairs were thrown and spectators tossed full water bottles as Hoyas players and coaches headed to the locker room at Olympic Sports Center Stadium,” according to the Washington Post’s Gene Wang. Read his story.

Georgetown Coach John Thompson III pulled his players off the court with less than ten minutes left in the game and the scored tied at 64.

The team is on a 10 day trip, according to the university.  Team members were briefed by state department officials in advance about what to expect in Beijing and Shanghai and about the status of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China (this won’t help.) 

1 comment:

  1. the repeated punches thrown and the chair swinging by the players in seconds 30-50 look very nasty...not exactly hospitable behavior.

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