Even as the Hong Kong protests continue to rankle authorities in mainland China, a video has surfaced showing Chinese ice hockey players beating up their counterparts from Hong Kong mercilessly during a National Youth Games match held in Chengde, northeast of Beijing. The video of the assault has gone viral on social media and Twitterati all over the world have condemned the incident.
According to South China Morning Post, the Chinese ice hockey team which have their base in Shenzhen city of Guangdong province were losing the match 11-2 when the fight broke out.
In the video, two Kunlun Red Star players can be seen repeatedly punching a player from the Hong Kong's youth team, whose jersey number was 23. According to reports, the name of the player is Jonathan Wong and he was hit on the head as he tried to shield himself from getting injured.
Footage is emerging showing Hong Kong's youth ice hockey team being brutally attacked by a mainland Chinese ice hockey team from Shenzhen in Beijing. The Chinese Ice Hockey Association described the incident as a 'collision'. Watch & decide for yourself. pic.twitter.com/giNg5HAjJ6
— Jack Hazlewood (@JackHHazlewood) August 1, 2019
A woman was also heard in the video screaming and telling them to stop the beating from outside the rink. Finally, two referees had to intervene and stop the assault. Hong Kong's coach described the assault as "despicable," "dirty," and "a violation of sportsmanship," according to Radio Free Asia.
They are just ice hockey players. But I can see they are violence killers. Chinese team boys tried to kill Hong Kong boys... so terrified #香港デモ #FreedomHK #antiELAB https://t.co/XtIMpSmEZk — Maggie O'Dowd (@maki_odowd) August 1, 2019
The incident was not well received by people all over the world as the video got viral after it surfaced on social media. Some of the Twitterati termed the Chinese players as killers and condemned the incident. Many resorted to questioning the sportsman spirit of the Chinese players.
The Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association stated that the three Chinese players involved in the incident were banned by the organisers for a year. The Chinese Ice Hockey Association assured that incidents like this won't be repeated, according to South China Morning Post. However, Radio Free Asia reported that the Chinese authorities termed the incident a collision.
