Greek police detains Serbian basketball star after brawl (Roundup)

Aug 20, 2010, 10:59 GMT

Athens/Belgrade - A Serbian basketball player was briefly detained Friday after throwing a chair at a rival during a brawl in a friendly match against Greece that turned ugly Thursday in Athens.

The bench-clearing incident, on the eve of the world championship, may have a major impact on the outlook of the two teams which contend for high placement at the upcoming world championships in Turkey.

Nenad Krstic, the centre of the US National Basketball Association Oklahoma Thunder, was brought in on a warrant issued by the Athens prosecutor in charge of hooliganism in sport and quickly released, local reports said.

The Serbian Sport Minister Snezana Malovic meanwhile travelled to Athens and was in Krstic's company, the Beta news agency said in Belgrade.

A scuffle between Serbia's guard Milos Teodosic and Antonis Fotsis with 2:40 remaining in the match and with Greece leading 74:73 erupted into a three-minute melee of flying fists and chokeholds.

Krstic eventually picked a chair and flung it at Greeks, hitting the Olympiakos Piraeus' player Ioannis Bourousis.

Bourusis, who ran on court though he was not even on the bench due to an injury, was bleeding behind the ear, but later said that he would not press charges.

Teodosic and Fotsis star for rivalling Athens sides, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. Many other Serb players, including several from the national team, star in well-paying Greek clubs.

Greek commentators unanimously blasted the players for allowing club rivalries sour international matches. Serb media marked the referees as culprits for allowing tensions to build on the court and eventually get out of hand in a hard, tug-and-pull match.

The Greece-Serbia match was due to close the Acropolis Cup, an annual high-level basketball tournament held in Athens since 1986.

Players and officials from former European Champions Greece and Serbia, the runner-up at the last Euro, steered clear of media on Friday in an apparent attempt to avoid further damage and suspensions which could cripple the teams in Turkey.

A spokesman for the world controlling body FIBA said that they had asked for footage of the incident and would then consider further action.

'We are not happy with the incident. FIBA condemns violence on and off the court. In similar cases in 2009 we issued heavy sanctions. These range from fines to match-bans,' FIBA spokesman Florian Wanninger said.