Xinjiang Guanghui was deducted 18 points and lost its berth in the playoffs as team illegally used three foreign players in the Chinese Basketball Association league (CBA), it was announced by CBA in Beijing on Thursday.

 

Song Cun-Sou, whosed Chinese name is Guan Xiuchang, signed with Xinjiang during offseason, but was found having citizenship of the United States after playing 18 matches for Xinjiang.

 

The team already had American players Aaron Mcghee and David Jackson, which is an aberration of the league rules that one team could have as many as two foreign players in one season.

 

Xinjiang, who finished second with a record of 24 wins and four losses on 52 points, the best regular-season results in the history, was punished losing all the 18 matches with Song on the court by 20-0, and finished 11th on the standings.

 

The 9th-placed Zhejiang Guangsha was promoted to the 8th place to get a luck ticket into the playoffs, which start on January 16.

 

All the other six teams behind Xinjiang kept their placing order and have one placing up.

 

According to the rules, Xinjiang was facing the punishment that could drop it to the last on the standings and be banned for one year in the CBA.

 

Wang Du, deputy chief of the Chinese Basketball Association, said, "We don't have evidence that proves Xinjiang Guanghui has involved in the cheating or helped Song make the fake identification. That's the reason Xinjiang didn't receive the utmost punishment."

 

Song, 27, was claimed using two American passports during his traveling with the team.

 

His Chinese identification showed he was born in Heilongjiang Province, which was verified as a faked one.

 

In December, the club handed over a verification showed that Song was born in Macao, China, which was also faked.

 

Song averaged 6.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 22.2 minutes when Xinjiang recorded 15 wins and three losses before he left China to the United States on December 26.

 

The league office said Song played two matches for Yunnan Honghe during the 2004-05 season as a guard, whose Chinese name then was Ma Xiuchang. Yunnan is facing a future punishment.

 

The playoffs matchup will be announced on Friday, when the CBA All-Star Game weekend kicks off in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2008)