The women’s hockey match between China and Belgium at the 2024 Paris Olympics has angered spectators after a serious brawl broke out.

Accordingly, the Chinese women’s hockey team will meet Belgium in the semi-finals (morning of August 8). In Olympic history, neither China nor Belgium has won a gold medal in this event. Therefore, both teams entered the game with high spirits and there were constant clashes.

At the end of the official match time, the Chinese women’s team tied 1-1 with Belgium and the match had to rely on penalties to determine the winner. However, when referee Amber Church (New Zealand) blew the whistle, the Chinese players  continued to dribble the ball. Then, midfielder Fan Yunxia also unexpectedly hit the ball at Daphne Marien. Immediately, the star of the Belgian women’s hockey team fell down, showing pain and the shocking scene began from there.

Fan Yunxia (red shirt) hit the ball into the Belgian player’s body even though the match was over.

Delphine Daphne Marien appeared to be in pain, leading to a fight

The Guardian ( UK) described: “The Belgian team player did not accept Fan Yunxia’s actions and sought her out to retaliate. Seeing this, Fan Yunxia’s teammates quickly came to protect her and the two sides argued fiercely. The fight became serious, causing many players to fall to the ground.”

Outside the stadium, the coaches of both teams also argued. The Chinese team’s coaching staff believed that Fan Yunxia’s actions were unintentional, but on the contrary, the Belgian team’s coaching staff judged that the Chinese player had ignited the “war”. Fans present in the stadium also continuously booed and criticized the actions of both the Chinese and Belgian women’s teams.

Eurosport commentator shared: “The final whistle blew and it was incomprehensible, an ugly image, disrespecting the audience was happening before our eyes. The Chinese player just hit the ball into the Belgian player. The coaching staff of both teams refused to give in.

Everyone seems to want to go out there and settle the score. It’s reckless and dangerous, I think this is one of the biggest disappointments, it’s a disgrace to the Paris 2024 Olympics.”

The brawl angered audiences and TV channels in Europe.

Fortunately, the fight did not result in any unfortunate incidents. The players quickly stood up and the referee only gave Fan Yunxia a yellow card. In the subsequent penalty shootout, the Chinese women’s team won 3-2 to reach the final. The Asian representative will face the Netherlands, who defeated Argentina 3-0 in the previous semi-final.

After the match, Chinese women’s hockey team coach Alyson Annan said: “As for the fight, I have no comment. We did what we had to do. Important games like this, you have to win, it doesn’t have to be pretty. The Chinese women’s hockey team has also practiced penalty shootouts for more than a year and winning is a worthy reward. The players came into the field knowing that they had to give everything, never stop to get through the semi-finals.”