Basketball: Greece player hit with chair

Serbian basketball captain Nenad Krstic has apologised for throwing a chair at a Greek player during a brawl towards the end of a game between the two countries yesterday.

"I didn't sleep all night," Krstic said. "I feel very bad about what happened.

"Me and the players were angry when the referee ejected our coach and things got out of hand. I want to apologise to the Greek people, the Greek players and Yiannis Bourousis."

Krstic, who said he acted in self-defence, threw a chair in the direction of Greek players and it struck Bourousis, who had not played in the game and was attempting to break up the fight.

Bourousis suffered a cut to his head and later filed a complaint with police, who took the Oklahoma City Thunder centre into custody for a few hours.

Krstic was released after Greek and Serbian officials agreed to forget the incident.

However basketball's world governing body Fiba could still impose sanctions on the players involved in the brawl, which came with less than three minutes remaining with Greece on top 74-73.

The fighting began between Greek player Antonis Fotsis and Serbian Milos Teodosic, both of whom play for rival clubs in Greece.

Both benches emptied and punches and kicks were thrown before cooler heads prevailed and the violence stopped, but not before Krstic threw the chair.