China's basketball governing body has admitted that poor management of the home league is the reason behind its youth team's humiliating walkout in Iran on Sunday.

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) accepted the penalty of the Asian Basketball Association (ABA) after its junior squad forfeited the game against Syria at the Asian Under-18 Championships in Iran.

"Our coaches might have some misunderstandings about international rules, but it also reflects problems of management and regulation at all levels of basketball competition back home," a CBA statement said.

Li Chunjiang, head coach of the Chinese U-18 team, protested referees' decisions during the third quarter of a quarterfinal match against Syria, when China was leading 46-41.

All the players were benched by Li as a protest and didn't return after three minutes. The technical board decided China waived the right to continue to play and credited the victory to Syria.

The team was fined 30,000 Swiss Franc ($27,000) and failed to make the semifinals.

"The head coach was irrational and behaved improperly when he protested the referees' decisions, which violated FIBA rules. That is the main reason for the issue," the statement reads.

"We are sorry to learn that China might fail to advance into the next round of the championships and lose the chance to play at next year's World Championships as well," the statement said.

"The CBA takes the matter to be a lesson to all Chinese coaches and insists they learn more about FIBA rules and are aware of their behavior on the court."

In a poll conducted by Internet portal Sina.com, 46.5 per cent of participants believed the penalty was "not serious enough", while another 31 per cent held the team should be banned from the tournament right away.

Ma Lijun, CBA's leading referee, said young Chinese players lack professionalism.

"It is very common for referees to have calls disputed," he told Sohu.com. "A good team shouldn't be influenced by such calls. Even NBA superstar Kobe Bryant won't challenge referees in this way."

Despite Yao Ming and his national team's sparkling show at the Beijing Olympics, China's domestic basketball has been struggling to reach fans' expectations.

The walkout saw China out of its first tournament semifinal in 31 years. A year ago, its second-string national team finished a distant 10th at the Asian Championships. The CBA league has been struck by court violence and misbehaving fans.

Spectator violence has grown rapidly since the league tipped off in October. Games were criticized as being "totally out of control" by State media after three incidents of fans throwing bottles onto the court.

CBA slapped the clubs involved with 10,000 yuan ($1,351) fines. But it seems the fines have not been effective and the CBA may have to follow the NBA's lead.

After an infamous on-court brawl between fans and players in 2004, the NBA moved to limit such image-harming incidents by implementing a zero-tolerance policy for players.

According to that policy, a player arguing a call or even throwing up his hands in frustration would get a technical foul and a fine. Those strict regulations, which were somewhat relaxed in subsequent years, effectively controlled players' on-court behavior and quelled fan violence as well.

China has started working on similar regulations.

"We will try to find more ways to educate our players and fans in the new year," said Hao Guohua, director of the CBA's managing office. "We have worked for more than 10 years to make the CBA a better league and we have our world-famous stars like Yi (Jianlian) and Yao, so we cannot let its image get destroyed by such problems.

"Everybody takes these things seriously, I am sure you will see a solution in the very near future," Hao said.

(China Daily September 4, 2008)