Chinese basketball probes ‘racial abuse’ of former NBA player

Chinese basketball officials were investigating on Wednesday after reports that former Houston Rockets player Aaron Jackson was racially abused by opposition fans.

The 32-year-old American guard is said to have been targeted during the Beijing Ducks’ 117-103 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) playoff victory at the Shanghai Sharks on Tuesday evening.

Broadcast footage of the game showed an agitated Jackson being ushered along the sidelines of the court by a Ducks team-mate and an official instructing the crowd to sit down.

A reporter at the game posted on social media that a fan near the Beijing bench shouted a racial slur at Jackson, who had a stint last year with the NBA’s Houston Rockets but has spent most of his career overseas.

“We are investigating. The spectators did say something to Jackson, but we have to ascertain what was said,” a CBA spokesman told AFP.

The Sharks, where Yao Ming made his name before starring in the NBA, said they were unaware of any incident and had not received a complaint from the visiting Ducks.

It is second time in three months that Sharks fans have created unwanted headlines.

In December, supporters taunted their Nanjing opponents with a death chant on the anniversary of the 1937 massacre of Nanjing, triggering outrage and an investigation.

With the match going to the wire, home Shanghai supporters were accused of shouting: “Why didn’t the Nanjing massacre kill your team?”