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Singaporeans, Chinese come to blows during 'friendly' match, three hospitalised
Three football players have been hospitalised after a major fight broke out during a supposedly 'friendly' match between a Singaporean team and a Chines team from Beijing.
Beijing Guo'an Football Club has extended an ‘olive branch’ to the management team of Singapore’s Young Lions and the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) after violence erupted between Beijing Guo'an Talent FC and the Singapore side on Tuesday.
Beijing Guo'an Talent FC officially expressed its regrets yesterday for its players' conduct and said it would respect the findings of the FAS disciplinary committee.
The club has also reported the situation to the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the People's Republic of China Embassy in Singapore. Wei Kexing, deputy general manager of the club with responsibility for the management of its teenagers, will also head to Singapore soon to communicate with the FAS.
According to an announcement from Beijing Guo'an on Thursday, the melee was started by a "technical offense" by a Chinese player and the situation escalated.
Two players from Young Lions, Gabriel Quak, who sustained an arm injury, and Faritz Abdul Hameed, who suffered a head injury, were sent to hospital. A Chinese player had his nose broken.
The melee forced the referee to abandon the match, the first such incident in the league's 15-year history.
"Any player from Guo'an who is undisciplined overseas will be sent back to China immediately", Gao Chao, general manager of Beijing Guo'an Football Club, said: "We will punish the team seriously if Guo'an was responsible for the incident."
Former Guo'an captain Han Xu wrote on his micro-blog on web portal sina.com: "Football is not about fighting. Young players must reflect on their behavior. Ideological education is very important to a player's lifetime development."
Beijing Guo'an Talent FC was formed to play as a foreign team in the SLeague this season with the aim of giving young players more opportunities to compete. It is the third Chinese team to take part in the SLeague after Liaoning Guangyuan (2007) and Dalian Shide (2008).
Before Tuesday's match, Beijing Guo'an was ranked ninth in the 12-team league and Young Lions were seventh.
Young Lions, which is largely made up of members of the Singapore national under-23 team and was introduced to the SLeague in 2003, has also apologized for its players' conduct on Tuesday.
