Match-fixing scandal taints Red Bull basketball tournament

ONG players (in white) deliberately play no defense as an Uptempo player tries a jump shot in the Red Bull Reign basketball tournament Group 1 final match. / Capture from a video provided by Project Ball

By Woo Ji-won

Red Bull Reign’s first amateur basketball tournament in Seoul has been rocked by claims that a front-running team that included non-Koreans was victimized by collusion “not to let the foreigners advance.”

In the three-on-three tournament’s main rounds involving the top eight teams at Jamwon Hangang Park on Saturday, Project X was looking to advance to the Group 1 final with a good number of goals.

With two Koreans and two Americans, it was the only mixed-race team of the group’s four teams.

However, Project X didn’t make the group final because the other teams ― Uptempo, Will and ONG ― allegedly colluded to make sure a Korean team would advance to the tournament final. Some witnesses said a Korean player from one team made racist remarks, such as, “Let’s not let the foreigners advance to the final round.”

The three teams allegedly used a rule that ranks teams on how many points are scored, not the most wins. As a result, in the group’s last match, Uptempo beat ONG 71-18 to overtake Project X in total points scored. Uptempo lost to the Owls in the tournament final.

After the tournament, Project X used Facebook to condemn the three teams’ behavior. A short video clip on YouTube, now unavailable, showed ONG players not using any defense against Uptempo, so players could rack up points.

Red Bull Korea has denied claims of manipulation.

“We admit there were some players who misused loopholes of the game rule,” explained a Red Bull Korea source.

“But when the judges saw what was happening, they stopped the game immediately and held a meeting with every member of the four teams to decide whether to proceed with the tournament. Everyone agreed to continue according to the rules. ONG players on the clip were simply boycotting the game in protest against those who misused the rule. There was nothing to do with collusion or racism.”