A leading cue sports official has accused Zhou Mengmeng of being "irresponsible" for taking a conflict with a male team-mate to the media.

The 19-year-old Zhou, one of two female members on China's cue sports team, had earlier claimed Tian Pengfei, a snooker player, had hit her in the stomach and in the face after harassing her.

Zhang Xiaoning, director of the Multi-balls Administrative Center, the governing body of China's cue sports, said Zhou’s response had been overly willful.

"Her words to the media were very irresponsible," said Zhang. "We are still investigating her claims, but as far as I know, it's just a minor quarrel between young friends.

"I don't think there is anything like sexual harassment, it's definitely not as serious as the media reports."

Zhou dropped out of the Asian Games after losing to South Korea's Kim Ga-young 7-1 on Saturday in the eight-ball pool semi-final. She stated her intention to file a legal suit against Tian upon her return to Beijing.

"I will come home in a few days to prepare for the suit with my family," she said. "My parents have employed a lawyer for me. I want to solve the problem in a legal way."

She added that she had only agreed to meet with Tian after he had repeatedly called her mobile phone and sent her allegedly harassing text messages.

The 19-year-old Tian, a double gold winner in the men's doubles and team snooker events, admitted he had had a physical conflict with Zhou, but insisted her reaction was an act of revenge.

"Yes, I pushed her once, but I didn't hit her and harassment is of course out of the question," Tian said. "I once rejected her advances. I think she is taking revenge on me. She is absolutely absurd."

(China Daily December 12, 2006)