An outraged Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) plans to sue Guangdong Fenglu Aluminum Basketball Club for issuing public allegations that have undermined the association's image and harmed its marketing development.

Fenglu, last season's winner of the second-division National Basketball League (NBL), announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing from China's basketball league altogether because it could no longer take the CBA seriously.

Fenglu believed they were entitled to be promoted last season but were overlooked in favor of another team. They responded by threatening to take the CBA to court, a decision the team also reversed last weekend.

"Fenglu's passion and hope for the future of Chinese basketball has been killed by the CBA," it said in a strongly worded statement issued on Monday.

"We were trying to gain promotion to the first division but due to the CBA's lack of fair dealing and disrespect of the proper rules and regulations, we failed."

The CBA announced earlier that it would expand the nation's top league from 16 to 17 teams by selecting one of the sides that had occupied a top-three position in the secondary league over the past two seasons.

On Sept 4, a 16-member committee voted to promote Tianjin Ronggang Club at the expense of top-placed Fenglu.

Fenglu appealed and organized a series of press conferences before pursuing legal action it finally abandoned on Sunday

"We do not see any hope," read the statement. "If we were to continue our development within the NBL we would have to co-operate with the CBA, which has for us lost all of its credibility. So the best option is to withdraw from the sport."

The CBA was furious at hearing the accusations and learning of the club's withdrawal. It said it will lodge a lawsuit at an appropriate time.

"I cannot understand why the club believes so strongly that it automatically deserves to be promoted," said Li Yuanwei, director of the Basketball Administrative Center. "Fenglu's comments and behavior have had a bad impact on the sport and seriously harm the CBA's development."

Dismissing rumors of behind-the-scenes manipulation, officials were quick to explain that the promoted team was decided upon in the interest of developing the overall league.

"Winning the NBL last season does not mean automatic qualification for the CBA," CBA chief official Liu Xiaonong said.

"Our decision is based on a vote by all the CBA clubs because it is meant to serve the overall interests of the CBA. The decision does not scoff at Fenglu's achievements within the NBL nor their efforts over the last few years.

"We informed them that we were going to vote for the berths on April 30. I know they knew about the procedure because they visited a lot of clubs to try and attract votes."

(China Daily November 5, 2008)