Chinese player was offered bribe

Li refused to give details about the bribes or say what countries or people were involved. He first mentioned the bribes at a news conference for Chinese reporters, and said in the interview that he brought the issue to light to show that Chinese athletes were clean, not to shame others.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said it was investigating the first caseof its kind in the history of the Games.

The Chinese team and OCA went to great lengths to protect the identity of the player involved, refusing even to say whether it was a male or female. At first, they would not even mention the sport.

“An agent who spoke Chinese, approached a Chinese table tennis player, trying to buy a match with a certain amount of US dollars. The agent didn’t specify how much,” said Wei Jizhong, chairman of the OCA sports committee.

“The Chinese athlete refused the offer, saying he or she competes under the OCA spirit and the Bangkok Asian Games motto,” Wei added.

Wei, a former secretary general of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), said the table tennis player reported the approach to China’s delegation chief at the Bangkok Games village.

He said the chef de mission immediately asked the athlete to “remember the face of the agent in order to catch him. Unfortunately, they failed to do it, the agent disappeared after the refusal.”

Wei said he would submit a reporton the bribery attempt to the OCA executive.

“It is the first case of its kind,” said Sheikh Ahmadal-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the OCA. “We condemn it and we are following it very closely.”

Chinese sports officials in Bangkok said there had been other attempts to bribe Chinese athletes but never in such an up front manner. “Normally, it is a private approach from one athlete to another,” said one.

But he said the athlete would have turned down even $100,000 to throw the match. “I have not come here for the sake of money,” the Chinese athlete was quoted as saying.

“The honour of the country cannot be exchanged for money,” Li said. “The Chinese athlete has proven that nothing is greater than the honour of the country.”

The Chinese allegations of bribery come only a week after top member of the International Olympic Committee said potential Olympic hosts were being offered IOC votes for large amounts of cash. It also followed an uproar in world cricket over revelations thatAustralian players gave information to bookmakers in return for cash.