Lawsuit taken off the table
The family of women's billiards player Zhou Mengmeng on Monday dropped their lawsuits against China's Multi-ball Center and male snooker player Tian Pengfei.
Zhou Mengmeng's father Zhou Ruixin confirmed the news in Shanghai, and said he will visit the Multi-ball Center as soon as possible.
"It was my love and responsibility for billiards that made up my mind," Zhou Ruixin was quoted as saying by Sina.com. "I've been in the billiards business for 15 years, so there is a lot of emotion. I know my lawsuit will have some negative effects on the sport, that's something I do not want to see.
"I will talk with officials in Beijing in the coming days. I believe we will solve the problem."
Zhou and Tian Pengfei, who was accused of sexually and physically harassing her during the billiards event at the Asian Games in December, were slapped with a one-year suspension from all domestic matches by the center in early January. Tian was also ordered to formally apologize to Zhou.
Finding these punitive measures unacceptable, the elder Zhou filed a suit in Shanghai on January 16 seeking 1 yuan ($13 cent) as spiritual compensation and a public apology from Tian.
The Zhous claimed last month that the sport's governing body had responded by blocking the player from international matches, and had embezzled training funds ahead of the Doha Asian Games.
China Daily
(China Daily 02/28/2007 page24)
