Thompson said he met with the Bayi Rockets coach on Friday and they shook hands and chatted about basketball and other matters.The
Hoyas coach doesn’t think the brawl in Beijing on Thursday had any
political overtones. The Rockets are affiliated with China’s military,
and the fight seemed to embody often contentious US-China relations on
the second day of a highly publicized visit by Vice President Joe Biden.
"Beijing
is behind us, man,” Thompson said Saturday, a day after flying to
Shanghai as part of a 10-day goodwill trip. “We are excited to be here
in Shanghai. And our team was invited to come here to the city of
Shanghai to be part of this. Beijing is over.”
Asked what he told his players, Thompson said: “I told them let’s go to Shanghai and have fun.”
While
China likes to use sports to promote diplomacy, at times that has been
affected by violent flare-ups by players and fans. Tensions ran high in
Thursday’s game, when referees began calling the Hoyas for numerous
fouls.
After Bayi players knocked guard Jason Clark to the ground,
the melee ensued with players throwing punches and chairs, according to
video footage posted online. The Hoyas left the court as fans threw
water bottles at them, the score tied at 64.
Coaches and players representatives from the two teams met at Beijing’s airport Friday to reconcile.
“Yeah,
we just got together and shook hands and their coach and me talked
about things other than basketball, about families, and we both are
ready to move on,” said Thompson.
While the Hoyas were originally
scheduled to play the Rockets again on Sunday in Shanghai, that match
was canceled prior to Thursday’s fight. Instead, Georgetown will face
the Liaoning Dinosaurs.
“We expect good competition against a very difficult team,” Thompson said.
