Fight mars Greek Worlds warmup
A major brawl between Greek and Serbian basketballers before the end of their match in the Acropolis Tournament in Athens late on Thursday night could result in the sport’s governing body, FIBA, taking action against the players involved just days before the World Championship begins in Turkey on August 28. FIBA issued a strongly worded statement after more than a dozen players pushed, dragged, punched and threw objects at each other in the closing stages of the game, which was meant to be a warmup for the Worlds. «I was appalled to see the disgraceful scenes that occurred during the Greece vs Serbia game,» said FIBA General Secretary Patrick Baumann. «They were an awful stain on the good name of world basketball,» he said. Baumann added that the federation was «urgently reviewing» the incident. «FIBA will take whatever steps are necessary against any individual player found to have been involved in this shocking incident.» The brawl flared up after a confrontation between Greece’s Antonis Fotsis, who plays for Panathinaikos, and Serbia’s Milos Teodosic, who plays for Olympiakos. Other players rushed in and FIBA is likely to particularly scrutinize the behavior of Greek center Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who appeared to strike some opponents, and Serbia’s Nenad Krstic. The 27-year-old Krstic, who plays for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, may face the toughest punishment, as he picked up a chair with metal legs and appeared to throw it at Greece’s Yiannis Bourousis, who suffered a cut to the head. Bourousis pressed charges against Krstic, who was arrested by police but released hours later.
