Last night's game between the Beijing team and the Qingdao team was highly anticipated due to the direct confrontation between veteran national player Zhou Qi and new national player Yang Hanshen, which garnered significant attention. However, this high-profile match turned out to be a disappointment as it was marred by a controversial whistle, resulting in Zhou Qi's ejection from the game, which was fiercely criticized by media personality Zhao Tanchang: "One of the most anticipated matchups tonight has turned into nothingness; 'professionalism' and 'commercialism' were both poorly executed."
What exactly happened? Let's review the game. Zhou Qi played only 17 minutes in this game, scoring 10 points and grabbing 3 rebounds with 4 out of 10 shots. In the third quarter, after playing for just over a minute, Zhou Qi attacked the basket with the ball, and Yang Hanshen knocked him down while moving sideways, with obvious pushing actions. Zhou Qi, who fell to the ground, passed the ball to his teammate. After getting up, Zhou Qi sought an explanation from referee No. 59, questioning why the blocking foul was not called? The referee explained to him briefly and ended the conversation, but Zhou Qi continued to argue, resulting in the referee giving him a technical foul (T). Enraged by this unexpected technical foul, Zhou Qi continued to argue with the referee, who immediately gave him another T, leading to his ejection from the game.
The operation of referee No. 59, Huang Diankui, has sparked significant controversy. Most media personnel and fans believe that the penalty was inappropriate. Through slow-motion replays, it is clear that Yang Hanshen committed a blocking foul, knocking down Zhou Qi while moving sideways and not standing firm, with additional pushing actions. This was a clear defensive foul, but it was missed. Referee No. 59 did not think he was wrong and instead directly ejected Zhou Qi, acting recklessly! This time, many people stood on Zhou Qi's side, believing that referee No. 59 was too biased towards the Qingdao team, and people questioned his professionalism and level. Media personality San Shi Dai Ci wrote on social media: "It started with calm reasoning, so how did it escalate to a technical foul? This just ignited the fire, what kind of standard is this?"
Another media personality, Zhao Tanchang, criticized the referee's actions. His original words were: "I really want to criticize the league, do you even know what the fans want to see? You turned one of the most anticipated matchups tonight into nothingness; 'professionalism' and 'commercialism' were both poorly executed, clearly there was quality traffic, yet you chose the opposite approach." Obviously, Zhao Tanchang is dissatisfied and critical of referee No. 59's actions, criticizing his missed calls, his rash decision to eject Zhou Qi, and also criticizing the league for being overly lenient with referees. The league only protects the referees, not the players, allowing the referees to act recklessly, with excessive home court bias. Recently, a Shanghai foreign aid player was pushed down without a foul call, yet a ball out of bounds was called, Li Tianrong didn't touch anyone, yet an air foul was called, etc. Basically, they can call whatever they want, with no standards and very subjective. It's unclear whether the referees received any money.
Fans pointed out that the problem lies with the referees. Whether or not to blow the whistle is not the key; when players approach you for communication, the referees need to handle it properly and avoid making too arbitrary technical foul calls, as this escalates conflicts. The refereeing in this game was a failure. The referee is like a judge on the court, but he differs from a real judge. He must learn how to organize and motivate players to play well on the court and protect our main players, rather than being too sensitive and arbitrary. I wonder what your opinions are on the operation of referee No. 59, please share your views.
