Beijing Women's Rugby Team Scandalize National Games

On the same day that Li Na made Chinese sporting history after reaching the semi-finals of the US Open in New York, it emerged a set of Chinese sportswomen let themselves down terribly at the 12th Chinese National Games currently being held in Shenyang.

Beijing's women's rugby sevens team collapsed to a crushing 71-0 defeat at the hands of their Shandong counterparts on Tuesday night. But the huge gap isn't necessarily a reflection on the skills of either team. Rather, it highlights the petulance of the Beijing team who stood aside and allowed their opponents to run up a record points tally in protest at what they perceived to be a poor decision by the referee. One that was later judged to be correct following a video review.

Beijing, the strongly fancied favorites to win the competition, found themselves 10-0 down shortly after the start of the gold medal match, and when the Spanish referee awarded Shandong a further try in the second half, despite strong consternation from the Beijing team, they refused to continue and stood aside as their opponents ran in try after try.

Reports say that some Beijing players wanted to continue the match, and broke down in tears when their coach insisted on throwing the game.

Beijing’s coach, Jiang Xuming, said after the game: “The referee was biased in favor of the Shandong team. It was too obvious.” The Beijing delegation to the Games was later forced to make a public apology.

"We respect and accept the decision of the jury committee. We've learned lessons from this incident and will not violate discipline and code of ethics in future," read the delegation’s statement.

With eight days of the competition still to go, Shandong top the medal standing at the Games with 28.5 gold medals. Guangdong are second with 22.5, while the PLA team are third with 20 gold medals. Beijing currently sits in seventh spot with 15 gold medals.

Photos: r7.com, cc.com