Beijing Ducks basketball star Randolph Morris ‘racially abused’ as he tries to break up street fight in China’s capital
Ring-winning centre caught up in brawl on capital’s famous bar strip that’s captured on camera phone
Former New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks basketballer Randolph Morris was caught up in a street fight in Beijing’s Sanlitun bar district on Saturday night.
In the camera phone footage posted on Sina Weibo 2.11-metre Morris acts as the peacemaker as blows rain around him, with several media outlets reporting that the African-American was also racially abused.
Basketball reporter Jia Lei of Oriental Sports Daily wrote on his Weibo that the incident began after the 32-year-old turned down the offer of a drink before things turned ugly, with a bike being brandished as a weapon.
Towering Morris acted as a peacemaker throughout, something he has been credited for on social media.
The Ducks are currently 1-0 down to the Liaoning Flying Leopards in the CBA play-off quarter-finals.
This is not the first time that a foreign athlete has been caught up in violence in the capital’s Sanlitun area renowned for its nightlife. Beijing Guoan footballer Maurice Ross was held by police after becoming involved in an altercation with a taxi driver in 2010.