China probes Hulk incident

China's football authority said Wednesday it is investigating Brazilian star Hulk's alleged altercation with a rival club's staffer, but it saw "no malicious intent" in a separate racially-charged row involving Argentina's Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Both South American players, who are among the growing crop of highly paid foreign stars in China's cash-rich Super League, have been embroiled in race-related incidents in recent weeks.

The Chinese Football Association said its disciplinary committee held a hearing last Friday with Hulk, who plays for Shanghai SIPG, and the assistant coach of Guizhou Zhicheng.

The hearing came after Guizhou Zhicheng's then head coach Li Bing accused the muscular Brazilian of punching his assistant, Yu Ming, at half-time during SIPG's 3-0 victory earlier this month.

Li had suggested Hulk had a racial motive for the alleged attack, saying that the Brazilian star "cannot be here and despise Chinese people," though he later appeared to back off those comments.

Hulk and the Shanghai club have rejected the accusations.

CFA spokeswoman Huang Shiwei said in a statement that the association "has zero tolerance towards any behaviour that is not (in line with) sport ethics in the pitch, no matter who that person is. There is no exception."

News of the investigation comes a week after a CFA official, Li Peng, said there was "no evidence" that Hulk had violated any regulations.

But Li Bing, who remains Guizhou's general manager, said on his official Weibo microblog account that he would keep pursuing the charges even though his club said both sides "has reached agreement" in how to handle the incident.