Chinese skater banned over obscene gesture
Song Xingyu raised middle finger in direction of rival fans
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BEIJING - Chinese speed skater Song Xingyu has been banned from the sport for one year after making an obscene gesture toward fans from a rival province.
Song, who represents the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, raised his middle finger in the direction of fans from Jilin who were loudly accusing him of skating out of bounds in a 10,000-meter race.
Song, 20, will be banned from all training and competition until Jan. 6, 2010, the Heilongjiang sports committee said.
“During the sanction period, Song should meditate on his mistake deeply and write a self-criticism,” the committee said.
The incident occurred Sunday at a competition in Jilin’s capital Shenyang.
While Chinese athletes are considered generally well behaved at international meets, competition at the provincial level — which often decides places on national teams — is often dirty, involving doping, assaults on athletes and alleged bribery of officials.
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